More than Penpals
by raspberry dreams
Summary: Harry and Spencer meet as children (timelines adapted to make Spencer two years older than Harry). Even though they only spend three weeks together, having the support of a friend, even one he can only communicate with by letter, transforms Harry's attitudes to life and those around him and may even help save his life and win a war.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Vernon came home from work early one day in a great mood and insisted that they celebrate. He wanted to go out but Petunia protested that she already had a roast in the oven. He even ignored the fact that Harry was still finishing his chores for the day and still let him eat dinner. The reason for this uncharacteristic generosity was clear once he began telling Petunia and Dudley about his day.

"I won the company raffle. The holiday of a lifetime, three weeks in Las Vegas, we leave in three weeks," he said excitedly.

"Awesome!" Dudley said enthusiastically. He didn't know anything about Las Vegas but he did know there weren't any school holidays for another couple of months so he'd be missing school.

Petunia smiled, thinking about how much she would enjoy telling her friends about the international holiday, she looked approvingly at her son before her attention was caught by a much less welcome sight.

"What about the boy?" Petunia asked. "Mrs Figg left this morning to spend the next month with her daughter. I suppose we could ask Marge to take him."

Vernon scowled. "He has to come with us. My boss is planning to see us off and we did claim him as a dependent. He'll be expecting us to have two children."

"We could still leave the freak at home and invite Piers," Dudley suggested.

"Great idea, Son! I'll call Marge after dinner, see if she can take the boy," Vernon said.

Harry listened in dread. He didn't mind the idea of being left behind, the less time he spent trapped in small spaces like the car with Dudley the better, but three weeks with Aunt Marge would be a nightmare. Ripper would tear him to pieces. He still had nightmares of the day he'd spent desperately clinging to a tree branch while his vision swum in and out and the bites on his leg throbbed viciously reminding him what would happen again if his aching arms gave way or he lost the battle with his consciousness and he fell down into reach of Ripper the bulldog. One thing for certain, he'd known his laughing relatives wouldn't help him, not until they started to worry about what the neighbours might think about his screaming. His leg still hurt too, the bites had become infected in spite of his best efforts to dress the wounds and keep them clean. He didn't know why they hadn't healed. No, he didn't think he could face three weeks staying with Marge Dursley and her dogs. He started to shake and struggled to force down the food on his plate, knowing that he had to eat while he could. Heaven knew when they would let him have a full meal again. It was incredibly unfair that the one time they did they still managed to ruin it for him by telling him they were planning to send him to Aunt Marge.

"I could stay here, keep the garden tidy, I'll sleep in the shed if you don't want me in the house," he offered desperately, careful not to make it sound like his Aunt would be doing him a favour to agree.

"I'm not going to have you hanging about the house while we are in America, what would the neighbours think?" Petunia objected firmly. She wanted to be able to brag about the holiday to America without having the neighbours criticize her for leaving the freak home alone. Who knew what the wretched boy would get up to trying embarrass and humiliate them.

-o0o-

"Marge, I have terrific news! We've won a trip to Las Vegas. Three weeks all expenses paid, two rooms in a top hotel in the best part of town just far enough off the strip to be quiet at night, limousine to and from the motel and the airport. I need you to take in Petunia's nephew for a couple of weeks. He can't stay here alone," Vernon said carelessly, not able to stop himself from bragging, when his sister answered the phone.

Marge had thought for a moment that she was being invited to go to Las Vegas with them and her disappointment made her disagreeable, or more disagreeable than she normally was towards her only brother and resentful that he seemed to think she was at his beck and call. She might not be married or even dating but she did have a life thank you very much.

"You're not foisting that little brat off on me," she snapped.

"Marge please. His regular babysitter is away and there's no one else," Vernon said, begging as much as his inflated sense of pride would let him. "He can help around the house."

"Why would I take in the little welp. He's too small to be of any use to me, and the dogs don't like him. Good judge of character my bulldogs," Marge refused.

"He's actually quite good at chores, though I don't want you to tell him that, no need to give him a big head or a reason to start slacking off. He can mow lawns and weed and paint and clean the house, do the laundry and even cook simple meals," Vernon said encouragingly.

"No, I'm not taking him. I've always told you that you would be better off sending him to an orphanage and this is the perfect nudge to get Petunia to agree," Marge stated firmly.

Vernon sighed, he would love to be rid of the brat but he would lose the generous allowance that was being paid to them for looking after him. The allowance he hadn't admitted to his sister, or the tax department or anyone else that they received. It was this allowance that enabled them to live very comfortably, have a holiday every year and still put money aside to send Dudley to Smelting's. Without it they would have to choose between sending their precious son to Stonewall Comprehensive with the freak, or scrimping and saving to raise the school fees to send him to Vernon's Alma Mater, a decision he didn't want to have to make.

He sighed loudly. "I guess we'll have to take him with us then, though heaven knows he doesn't deserve to come on a holiday like this," he said slyly.

Unfortunately for him, Marge was still too angry to fall for his attempted manipulation. "Might be a good opportunity to leave him there," she said callously.

"Cant do that, without involving the officials, he'd have a return ticket, foolish woman," Vernon snapped, hanging up on his sisters outraged yelling.

"Marge won't take the little freak," Vernon announced returning to the table for another helping of dessert. "Perhaps one of your friends. The Polkiss might be willing to take him in in return for us taking Piers on holiday?"

"We can't ask them that. Think of the gossip. What reason could we give. If he was with Marge we could pretend that he was afraid of flying and didn't want to go or that he was locked up in juvenile detention but that won't work if he stays here. It would ruin our good name if they thought we were neglecting the boy," Petunia shrieked. "We've worked so hard to convince people he's a liar and a troublemaker but you know how manipulative he can be. If we left him with the Polkiss the little sneak will probably pretend to be the perfect child, and what about if he uses his freaky stuff."

"I want Piers to come. I don't want the freak to ruin our holiday," Dudley said bursting into fake tears.

"Don't worry Diddydums, Mummy won't let him ruin your holiday. Las Vegas will be so amazing you will barely notice that he's there," Petunia cooed at her son.

Harry kept his head down so nobody would see his smile. To be honest, he didn't care whether he went to Las Vegas or not now he knew he wouldn't be going to stay with Aunt Marge. Three weeks without the Dursleys sounded like a fine holiday to him even if it was right here in Little Whinging, so long as they didn't lock him in his cupboard. He began planning how he could stockpile enough food and water to survive three weeks locked up if he had to.

"I want Piers to come with us! The freak will ruin everything!" He yelled.

"Duddy darling we don't have a choice. We can't take Piers but I'm sure there will be lots of kids to make new friends at the motel. We won't let the freak spoil your holiday," Petunia said desperately trying to calm her son down and cheer him up.

Dudley continued to cry and shriek and kick as Harry finished eating and got up to begin cleaning up the kitchen as quietly as he could. Harry didn't want to draw attention by asking permission to leave the table but it was better if they found him working when they remembered his presence. He had a bit of a dilemma, if he washed the pots and pans first he'd have to refill the sink to wash the plates and glasses and he'd get in trouble for wasting detergent and hot water but taking the plates from the table before Vernon and Dudley left the table was just asking to be hurt. He worked as efficiently and silently as he could in the hope he could finish and get back into his cupboard before Dudley decided to ease his disappointment of having Harry go on holiday with him by beating him black and blue.

Dudley kept crying and screaming until Petunia and Vernon had promised to buy him three new games for his Gameboy to play on the plane, and Harry had finished all of the dishes except for Vernon's and Dudley's plates, glasses and cutlery. Vernon moved into the lounge to watch the news on the telly and Dudley went too to make sure his parents knew which games he wanted leaving Harry to finish cleaning up and take himself to bed unharmed.

-o0o-

Harry hurried to school next morning. His Aunt had driven Dudley to school leaving him behind because he wasn't ready to go, and she had threatened not to let him eat any dinner if he didn't finish cleaning up the kitchen before he left the house and Dudley had spilled a whole glass of juice all over the table and floor just after Vernon had left for work so it had taken longer than usual. He slid into his seat just as the teacher was calling the roll and she frowned at him. Harry just lowered his head and concentrated on his work, making sure he could get the answer right before writing down the wrong answers.

Harry escaped to the library at recess, one of the first kids let out since he didn't have a snack to eat before going out to play so on the whole he had a good morning, he forced himself to eat lunch in the lunchroom, he couldn't afford to skip it in case Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon found another reason to deny him any dinner and he was hungry. He managed to sit far enough away from Dudley to scoff down his meal before Dudley finished his own and came looking for him, unfortunately he caught up with Harry as he left the lunch room and Harry took off running, managing to get away and hide long enough to get back to the library without Dudley and his gang seeing where he'd gone.

They had science that afternoon the one class Harry was really interested in, though he knew he would never be asked to help with the experiments, if he was quiet enough he could get close enough to see what happened and listen to the explanation. Dudley and his friends lost interest as soon as the experiment was finished, sometimes even before that if the teacher took too long to get to the fun bit, and sometimes the teacher lost her temper and stopped the experiment and they were given things to write from the board instead, but she seemed in a good mood today and the experiment was messy enough to satisfy the troublemakers.

Harry wasn't so lucky on the walk home, Dudley, Piers and Malcolm caught up with him just outside the schoolyard and shoved him around a bit on their way out of sight of the teachers. Harry managed to break loose before he was seriously hurt and run the rest of the way home with Malcolm and Piers on his heels and arrived home bruised and panting. Unfortunately, Petunia wasn't home so Malcolm and Piers were able to drag Harry to the ground and sit on him until Dudley arrived to punch him. Petunia arrived home and scolded him for getting his clothes so filthy and dragged him in to tidy up while Dudley ate cake and chocolate biscuits before watching cartoons on the telly. All in all a pretty normal day for the orphaned boy and his relatives.

-o0o-

In the end in spite of Dudley's tantrums and tears and Vernon and Petunia's wishes, without Marge's assistance, they couldn't find a suitable reason to leave Harry behind and take Piers instead without setting the neighbourhood gossips against them. And as Vernon pointed out his boss might actually want to talk to the boys when he met them at the airport with their tickets and the extra ticket would be issued in the freak's name and Piers didn't look anything like the scrawny little runt, let alone enough for them to use his passport, it would be beyond embarrassing to be caught trying to sneak the wrong child onto an international flight. Vernon was sorry that Dudley had even thought of the idea of having Piers substitute for the Freak.

The Dursleys spent the next couple of weeks learning all they could about Las Vegas and planning what they wanted to do and see while they were there. Harry spent all his spare time catching up the yard work and helping with the packing. Petunia had gone to a charity shop in London and brought him a newish looking pair of pants, a cheap canvas belt and a T-shirt to wear to the airport in front of Vernon's boss and on the plane. They were still a bit big to give him room to grow into but they weren't the husky fittings that his cousin wore and the original owner obviously hadn't been such a slob as Dudley was either, so the pants looked a little worn but not stained and Harry thought they didn't look too bad once he'd tightened the belt and rolled the cuffs up.

-o0o-

Harry was as polite and well behaved as he could be meeting Uncle Vernon's boss but he knew it wouldn't do him any good. If he offended the man he would be punished, and if the boss praised him to Vernon instead of praising Dudley he would be punished even worse. He sat quietly on the seats trying not to draw attention as Dudley fidgeted and fussed about having to wait, having to be quiet and the fact that the television in the corner wasn't playing his favourite programs. Finally, they boarded the plane and once they were allowed to get their things out Harry pulled out Dudley's workbooks. Dudley would hopefully leave him alone if he was doing his schoolwork for him. Hopefully he could make it last through the entire flight, or at least until Dudley was distracted by his Gameboy or the inflight movie or fell asleep. There was no point doing his own school work this early it would just somehow get lost before they got home.

In the row behind them Vernon and Petunia went through the accommodation and activities package looking over the schedule and the optional extras.

"I'd bet Dudders would like to take the helicopter flight over the grand canyon," Vernon said enthusiastically.

"Yes I'm sure he would," Petunia agreed smiling. "I think he would also love the Cirque du Soleil, and the Marvel's Avengers Station."

"We could check him in for one of the kids' clubs, some of them sound like they'd be a lot of fun and then we could spend some time in the casinos or perhaps see a show or two," Vernon suggested.

"What about the freak?" Petunia asked. "We can't trust him to behave at the kids' clubs and I'm not paying good money for him to have all these adventures."

"Of course, we won't. He can stay in the motel room, or we can drop him in the park somewhere for the day, so the motel staff don't complain," Vernon planned. "We won't let him ruin our holiday."

Overhearing this Harry was content he'd be fine exploring the parks, now if only their accommodation didn't include a cupboard big enough for them to stuff him in, he might be able to enjoy some of this holiday too. He was even happier once Dudley went to sleep and he was able to finish off his cousin's homework quickly and even watch a movie in peace.

-o0o-

The Dursleys arrived at the motel tired and grumpy from a day of travel and Harry, even more tired after being forced to drag the carryon luggage off the plane by himself until Vernon found a trolley for their suitcases, was happy to see that not only didn't they have cupboards big enough for him to even sit in, but that he could hear noises coming through the walls from the rooms on either side. They might have been strangers and out of sight, but Petunia wouldn't let Vernon hit him too badly where they could be overheard. The American police on television were always much more unpleasant to people who hit children and she didn't know if they could make them understand that Harry was just a freak and deserved all the beatings he got for his own good. Of course what Petunia and Vernon did not know was that there was outside influences at work in Little Whinging both in the neighbourhood, at school and occasionally at the local police station and child welfare office to ensure they remained in a position to continue the treatment of their nephew and that he remained in their custody. It was almost a pity for Harry's sake that they didn't get caught beating their nephew while in Vegas where they were outside of the old meddler's protective influence.

Of course, Harry quickly realised that there might also be a downside to thin walls between them and the neighbours. When Dudley objected to Harry sleeping in the second bed in his room Vernon ordered him to sleep in the bath before Dudley had even begun properly yelling about it. Harry just huffed and went to grab the extra blankets and a pillow. The bath was cold and hard but it was cheap plastic instead of the old fashioned cast iron they had back in Privet Drive and with the blankets it wasn't much worse than the floor of his cupboard except for the fact that his aunt and uncle shook him awake with their hand roughly over his mouth and made him get up and leave the room every time they wanted to use the loo or shower.

-o0o-

Spencer sighed as he entered the school next morning, it was Monday morning, he had a whole week of boredom and torment to look forward to, and he was already tired from the weekend, his mother had had a bad Sunday and he would've liked nothing better than to stay home and sleep but the school had an attendance requirement and a tough stance on truancy. He reminded himself that he only had a semester and a half before he met all of the mandatory requirements to graduate.

Caltech had offered him early entry, it didn't matter to them whether he had actually graduated high school, his test scores already proved he had the knowledge required to finish school and once he had his first degree his lack of a high school diploma wouldn't matter. Spencer was sorely tempted but the uncertainty of his mother's health held him back. If she became worse and he had to leave Caltech to look after before getting a degree, then having his high school diploma would be necessary for him to get a job and to get into college classes at UNLV. He didn't really mind too much, eleven was too young to leave home after all and he had no illusions that he could convince his mother to move to California with him. She would never cope with the change in location and being surrounded by unfamiliar things and people, not to mention that a change in doctor could be a disaster, it had taken far too long to find one she trusted. He wasn't absolutely sure that he'd manage to go to Caltech next year either though that was his dream. He'd been accepted and they were prepared for him to be an unaccompanied minor on campus but he was worried about leaving his mother, she wasn't able to cope on her own a lot of the time now. She needed someone there to make her take her medication morning and night and if they didn't manage to get her to take it then they'd need to help with cooking and cleaning and personal care until her medication levels stabilized and his mom was able to do it all again.

It was only in the mornings when he had to walk voluntarily into the school and face his bullies each day and when they inevitably caught him a couple of times each week that he regretted the choice he felt he had to make to stay at school and finish the year. Not for the first time he cursed his father for leaving. If William Reid still lived with him then Spencer could already be getting ready to go to Caltech next semester knowing his mother would be properly looked after and he would have the support he needed too. Instead he'd been forced to give up the rest of his childhood and take on the responsibilities of an adult without any support, to care for his mother and to try to hide the severity of her illness from the rest of the world to prevent some interfering do-gooder from calling child services and having him taken away from her. He loved his mother and he hated himself for resenting her illness but sometimes he just longed to be a normal kid who when he had a bad day at school could take his troubles home and have his parents look after him for a change. To have a hot dinner ready and a quiet evening reading, doing homework, watching television or even playing a game with his parents instead of all the arguing that had been nearly constant before his father has walked out on them or the constant terror that someone would realise that his mother wasn't capable of looking after a child and he'd be taken way from her.

He didn't know how his mother was going to take him leaving to go to college, or who he could trust enough to look after her during the week when her illness was out of her control and she wasn't capable of looking after herself. He hoped she wouldn't feel that he was abandoning her too, like her husband had, and that he could find someone he trusted to visit and let him know that everything was okay or when he needed to come home and help out. part of him doubted that he was doing the right thing by going to Caltech, even though on her good days his mother supported his dream of going and encouraged him to live for himself. She would hate herself if she realized that she was the reason he hadn't followed his ambitions, and if he stayed what was there for him. Most of his bullies would be going to UNLV, and they'd poison the rest of the students against him just like they'd done in high school.

Spencer was looking forward to going to Caltech for more than getting away from the bullies. He was eager for the stimulation of new classes and ideas and being able to learn at a faster pace than high school among a class of students who were also interested in chemistry and learning. He was hopeful in a school full of students with above average intelligence and scholastic achievement he might finally be able to make a real friend. Someone who wouldn't make fun of his learning, or use him to do their homework, but would have things in common and just enjoy the things he did and want to spend time with him. In spite of how busy he was looking after his Mom and how much he loved her and she loved him, Spencer was lonely. He always had been though it wasn't quite so bad before his father had left them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

It turned out that Dudley didn't like the kids' clubs at the casinos, (something that wouldn't have surprised anyone other than his doting parents). The staff there were all aware that they'd lose their weekly bonus if a child was injured or a parent had to be called away from the gaming floor to attend to their children. That meant that while there were a lot of decent activities to choose from (management wanted the children to enjoy themselves so their parents wouldn't feel guilty leaving them for hours of play at the gaming tables), bullying or roughing up the other children wasn't one of those activities. They had a quiet room set up to isolate children who didn't play well with others and a male security guard they could call in to help who was more than capable of restraining Dudley and moving him into the quiet room without damaging either of them.

Of course, the first time it happened, Vernon and Petunia complained when they picked up their son and heard Dudley complaining about being locked in the room 'for no reason', but security quickly arrived and the kids' club management pointed out that the disciplinary actions were outlined I the code of conduct agreement they'd signed when they left their son at the kids' club and that the security footage would show that the discipline was well warranted. They then pointed out that if they were to make a scene, they would be asked to leave the casino and not return. Vernon and Petunia had had a marvellous time in the casino and neither was willing to give up future visits or shows they'd already purchased tickets for, so for almost the first time in Dudley's life, his parents ignored his tantrums and did something solely to benefit themselves, leaving him at the kids' clubs several times while they enjoyed the adult attractions of Las Vegas, though each time it had to be a different casino kids' club as those Dudley had already been to, refused to have him a second time for the safety of the other children.

Harry on the other hand enjoyed the nights he spent alone in the hotel room. He knew that he couldn't eat anything left in the room, other than the complimentary fruit bowl that had been shoved in his direction at the start of the week, and that he mustn't order food or even watch any of the current release pay per view movies but because he'd never been to the cinema or been allowed to watch television he found more than enough to interest him on the free channels, and while he didn't dare sit on the beds or the furniture the deep pile carpet was a luxury to sit on when compared to the bare dusty boards of his cupboard floor at Privet Drive. It would have surprised everyone except the librarians at his school and local library that Harry preferred technical documentaries and animal shows to the cartoons that his cousin and Dudley's friends were almost addicted to.

Harry also enjoyed his days dropped at the local park while Dudley was taken to more expensive and exciting amusements. Though he was lonely and a little bored it was nice to be left alone instead of bullied. The weather was warm and the park was good and had a water tap he was allowed to help himself to, and when he became too bored he knew he had hours to explore the surrounding neighbourhood so long as he was back in the park in time to be picked up by the Dursleys on their way back to the motel to get ready for dinner. He found a local school and snuck in to read in their library, and was there most of the day before someone tried to send him to the principle for skipping class and discovered that he wasn't a student at the school. He wanted to make friends but there weren't many kids around during the day and when they did arrive after school they were all in groups and playing games he didn't understand well enough to join in.

-o0o-

Unfortunately for Harry, three days after they arrived in Las Vegas Dudley managed to make friends with some of the boys living near the motel. Harry was a little surprised that Aunt Petunia let her precious boy out of her sight long enough, but she did and Dudley being Dudley took up with the meanest, rudest, most obnoxious kids that he met, and once they got bored with making fun of the locals and minor vandalism, Dudley introduced them to his favourite game. Harry Hunting.

Harry ran as fast as he could, desperate to get away, unlike his little gang at home Dudley had managed to make friends with some kids at the hotel that were nearly as mean as Dudley without being slow and unfit and when they caught him they they'd hit harder than Dudley's friends at home too. Harry managed to get away from them though they were giving chase and he knew he couldn't keep running too much further, the cracked ribs were already burning as he gasped for breath. He just needed to get far enough out of sight for a moment to find somewhere to hide. He noticed a hole in the chain link fence around a boarded-up property and squeezed through it scratching his leg.

He barely fit so it should slow the bigger boys down a little and if he got out of sight in time they might overlook the small hole in the fence completely, he ran across the deserted yard looking for somewhere to hide, and crawled into a concrete pipe. It was a pretty tight fit but he dragged himself in as far as he could, hoping to be far enough not to be seen if Dudley's new friends managed to get into the yard and search for him. Even if they couldn't fit into the pipe after him he was worried that they would decide to poke him with one of the rusted metal bars that were lying around the yard.

The pipe bent downwards and Harry being head first almost fell in but luckily there was a grate that swung open slowly before he could hit his head on it and that he was able to hold onto just long enough to stop himself falling head first onto the floor. He landed on a heap of old mattresses which surprised him. He chuckled, someone must come in this way a lot to have found and dragged all the mattresses under the hole. He reached up and reclosed the grate so nobody would notice anything out of place, then began to explore the place looking for somewhere to hide in case the people that used this abandoned building came back and objected to a kid finding it. Somewhere hopefully out of reach of the rats. Opening up several doors to rooms full of dusty boxes and broken furniture he finally opened one that looked clean and almost lived in.

Strangely he wasn't afraid of whoever had made this space their own, the place just seemed to have a feeling of safety and serenity about it. For one thing there was a change of clothes that was made to fit a skinny kid and almost his size though the arms were a lot longer, and then there were the books, adult books, kids chapter books, technical books on all sorts of subjects some with school and local city library stickers on the spines. He felt a kindred spirit with the person who used this place to hide and read and couldn't help but sit down and reach for a story to escape into.

He was exhausted and his ribs were burning with pain. He curled up on the mattress with a book trying to distract himself from the pain and hunger as he hadn't eaten all day, and soon fell asleep. He woke later cold and still feeling fatigued though he noticed that his ribs and other wounds didn't hurt any more. He pulled on the hoodie left on the chair and slipped back to a light doze, figuring that if he didn't leave before the owner came back, he or she probably either wouldn't mind him borrowing the clothes any more than the bed and the book or would be so put out by the rest that the jumper wouldn't make him any angrier. Harry was too tired and too cold to really consider the consequences of helping himself to the jumper, let alone the reason that the temperature had dropped so dramatically when the other days they'd been there had all been warm until sunset.

-o0o-

Spencer squeezed into his favourite hiding spot early Saturday morning and was shocked to find someone there. There never had been any evidence of anyone else using the place in all the times he'd used the place and he'd fallen into the trap of thinking of the place as his safe haven and belonging to him and he'd been leaving a few possessions there between visits for mornings like this. He'd fled the house still in his pyjamas without breakfast, his mother was in the middle of one of her episodes and hadn't recognised Spencer as her son, accusing him of being an intruder sent to harm her son and threatening to scratch his eyes out. He knew from experience that she might try it if he didn't get out of there quick enough.

The boy in his hideout didn't seem like a threat to him. At first glance he appeared to be about five or six years old, small, and almost impossibly thin and scrawny, a little roughed up but too clean to be homeless and from the book he'd borrowed, unless he was either a genius like Spencer or for some reason just looking at the pages and pretending to read, he was probably older than he appeared. The boy looked up from the book he'd been reading, his face adding to the impression that he was probably closer to Spencer's age. His face had already lost most of the roundness of childhood and his eyes looked positively old in their wariness and fatigue that spoke of a lifetime of pain and suffering.

"Hello," Harry said awkwardly, "I guess this is your place, I'm sorry for using your stuff but I've been careful not to damage anything." He looked up at the older boy slightly anxiously, the boy who probably owned the jumper he'd borrowed was bigger than him but still skinny, though he looked healthier than Harry did. He didn't look mean like Dudley or Piers did, in fact he looked as nervous about what Harry would do as Harry was worried about him.

Spencer recognised the book as one he'd left there and the hoodie the boy was wearing as being his as well one he'd been looking forward to putting on to ward off the early morning chill.

"Hello, are you hiding too?" Spencer blurted out, not feeling any sense of threat and more curious about the boy than angry that he was using his things.

Harry grimaced, "Yeah, my cousin has made some new friends and introduced them to his favourite game of Harry hunting and my aunt and uncle won't let me back into the motel room until dark. I'm Harry by the way. I guess this is probably your jumper, I'm sorry for borrowing it without asking." He began pulling off the hoodie.

Spencer stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Keep it on, I've got another one here, it isn't cold enough to want to wear both of them. I'm Spencer, my Mom isn't feeling well today so I need to be outside until she's feeling better," Spencer admitted going to the old packing box he hid his stuff in and pulling out the woollen sweater his aunt had knitted him. "It's going to be hot later today so this is a good place to avoid the heat and the library isn't open this early in the morning. Weren't you worried that I was your cousin when you heard me come in?"

"No. Dudley and most of his new friends wouldn't fit through the pipe to get in so unless there's a bigger entrance that I didn't find somewhere when I looked around, I'm safe from him, and his friends probably wouldn't bother to start something if he isn't there to egg them on. That's how I found this place, I was looking for somewhere small to hide and crawled into the pipe, I went as far as I could so he couldn't grab one of those metal bars out there and poke me with it and then I could feel the air moving through it even though there wasn't any light at the end of the tunnel so I kept going to see what I could find and fell through onto the mattresses," Harry replied, totally missing Spencer's comment about it being early morning, he felt like he'd been asleep only for an hour or two.

"I'm surprised the rats and spider webs didn't scare you away," Spencer commented. They gave him the creeps but a safe place to hide had become too important to him to give up because of a few spiders and rats, though he did periodically try to poison them to keep the numbers under control.

"Oh, I'm used to spiders, there's plenty in my cupboard at home," Harry said. His stomach started growling and Harry blushed.

Spencer went to the box he'd pulled the knitted cardigan from and pulled out a sealed container, opening it he pulled out a couple of muesli bars and handed one to the boy.

"Thanks Spencer, I'll try to pay you back somehow," Harry said, though he didn't know how unless he managed to steal some chocolate bars from the stockpile his aunt kept hidden to give Dudley to snack on when he whined for sweets.

Spencer smiled. "That would be appreciated, I don't always have the time or money to restock my stash," he admitted. "I use this place to hide from everyone too. I've always been bullied at school, I just don't fit in with the other kids, but because I skipped so many classes the bullies are all five years older than me now, and they hit so much harder than kids our age can," Spencer said. "They can't get to me in here either."

"That's terrible, Dudley and his friends at home are much bigger than me too, mostly because they eat too many cakes and sweets, but at least he's too unfit to catch me if I get the chance to run. I'm pretty fast. But everyone at school believes that I'm the trouble maker. But if your bullies are that much older than you the teachers couldn't possibly blame you for it," Harry said horrified.

"No they don't, but my school is huge. Over two thousand students and the teachers look the other way when it comes to the football team especially during the season because they're successful and supposedly bring prestige to the school," Spencer said cynically. "If it wasn't for not wanting to draw attention to me and Mom I would go to the police and have them charged with assault. Some of the seniors are already eighteen."

"Why is it so important not to draw attention that you're willing to let them get away with bullying you?" Harry asked confused. If he thought that he could tell someone about the bullying and the Dursleys and actually be believed he wouldn't hesitate.

"My Mom isn't well, she isn't always able to take care of herself, let alone me. If the authorities find out how sick she is they'll put her in a hospital and put me in the foster system," Spencer said carefully.

"I understand trying to avoid that. My Aunt and Uncle threaten to send me to an orphanage if I make too much trouble," Harry said shuddering sympathetically. "They make it sound even worse than living with the Dursleys."

"I don't know if it would be worse for you, but I'm too much of a geek to fit in, and the foster system is state based, they wouldn't let me move to California to go school next year," Spencer replied.

"You must have got into some pretty fancy school to be willing to move that far away to go to it," Harry said admiringly, not realising that Spencer was talking about a university not a provate secondary school.

"It's been my dream to go to Caltech for almost as long as I can remember, since I first read about the school and the subjects they teach and the honour code there," Spencer said enthusiastically.

"Well congratulations on getting in. you must be thrilled. I bet your parents are proud of you," Harry replied.

Spencer looked awkward for a moment, then began asking questions to avoid answering about his parents. "How long have you been here? I stop in here most days and there wasn't anybody hanging about when I came in yesterday. How old is your cousin? Were you hurt running away from him and his friends? I have some bandaids and bandages in the first aid kit if you need them. Did you find it?"

"Dudley's only about seven weeks older than me but his circumference nearly matches his height," Harry replied. "I don't know how long I've been here, I fell asleep. I'm not hurt enough to need bandaging, it's just scrapes and bruises. They'll be gone in a day or two." In fact, he had a suspicion that the scrapes and bruises had already disappeared though they shouldn't have healed so quickly.

"It's just after eight in the morning," Spencer said helpfully.

"Saturday morning?" Harry asked appearing frightened.

"Yes," Spencer replied.

"I slept all afternoon and all night, I've been here since early afternoon Friday. My Aunt and Uncle are going to kill me," Harry said shaken. Even the excuse that he'd fallen asleep wouldn't help him, would make things worse, his relatives knew that he got extra sleepy after doing whatever it was that made him different, so they'd be even more angry if he tried to explain. That explained why his scrapes and bruises all felt gone.

"Will they have gone to the police, we need to go and tell them you're safe. Where are you staying, I'll walk you back so you don't get lost?" Spencer said hurriedly. The last thing he wanted was the police canvassing the area while his mother was having a bad day.

Harry shook his head. "No, they won't have called the police unless one of the hotel staff mentioned that I was missing and they couldn't think up an excuse quickly enough, I think they'd prefer it if I was dead in a ditch somewhere so long as they could prove they had nothing to do with it and it happened in a perfectly normal way," Harry said cynically. "I'll be in huge trouble if they have had to call the authorities. But they probably just pretended I was with them and went on with their sightseeing."

Spencer didn't know what to say to that so fell silent, looking around for something else to talk about before things became awkward.

"You're British, are you here on holiday or has your family moved here and looking for a house?"

"We are on three weeks holiday, Uncle Vernon won it in a competition at work, which is why they had to bring me with them instead of dumping me with someone the way they normally do when they go on holiday. Uncle Vernon was afraid his bosses would be told if they cashed in the extra ticket, and Aunt Marge wouldn't take me, and Aunt Petunia was worried about if the neighbours saw me if they left me home alone. I'm from Surrey," Harry explained.

"I'm from right on the birder of North Vegas, my Dad was born here and my mother moved here after college to work at the university. This is a strange place to come for a holiday, so far from the strip," Spencer replied.

"What's the strip?" Harry asked.

"The main street in the tourist part of town, where the big casinos are," Spencer replied.

"Where all the lights and lit up signs and fancy buildings are, the hotel's nearer to there than this here. But Uncle Vernon was complaining about the location being too far from everything," Harry agreed. "Is there anything cheap to do or look at around here, that doesn't require an adult's supervision?"

"Not much, and one kid on their own attracts attention," Spencer replied. "I could show you some stuff though."

"I'd like that, and if you're with me we wouldn't be one kid on our own, we'd be together. Two of us together would blend in more than one. Are you okay with me hanging about in your hideout? I promise I'll be as careful as I can not to let anyone see me come in and I won't wreck your books and stuff," Harry replied.

"Yeah, it's nice to have someone to talk to that doesn't want to hurt me, or for me to do their homework for them," Spencer replied, blushing as he realised what he had admitted. "I don't have many friends left, most of them stopped wanting to hang out with me when I got moved up a grade, and every time I started to make new friends, the school moved me up again. It doesn't help that I can't ever have friends come over to the house. People think I'm weird."

Harry smiled sadly. "No one at home talks to me either, the other kids at school are all too afraid of Dudley and his friends. They hit anyone who's nice to me and Dudley makes me do their homework too. I don't know why his friends would want me to, they all get better grades than I'm allowed to. He'll hit you too if he sees you being friendly, I'll understand if you want to pretend not to know me, except in the hideout."

Spencer could see that his new friend was trying to be generous and that it would hurt him if he only agreed to be secret friends. He thought about how it would make him feel if someone was only willing to be friendly with him when nobody else could see them and realised that a couple of the kids he hung out with in the library were like that, they'd ignore him when their other friends or the popular kids were around, and it did hurt and make him distrustful of their friendship.

"I wouldn't do that, we will just have to both try to avoid the bullies. They're worse when you're alone, mine always are anyway," Spencer said.

Harry nodded, "I'm always alone, so I hadn't really noticed that, but you're right, when Dudley can't find me he only picks on other kids when they're on their own unless his gang is all there and they're bigger than the other kids. You're taller than Dudley but his new friends are bigger and meaner than his friends back home. Meaner than Dudley used to be too. At home they're just his school friends and he's the meanest one, though Piers enjoys watching people get hurt and eggs Dudley on, he's a bit weak and never hits as hard as Dudley can. But these boys are older and I think they are real trouble makers, they weren't in school when they should have been, they're going to get Dudley into trouble and you can bet that I'll be punished for it when Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia find out."

"You're right that they're going to get him in trouble, they're probably setting him up to take the fall for something, otherwise why would older boys want to hang around with kids our age? But how can his friends possibly be your fault, it isn't like the two of you are friends or that you're friends with the kids he's hanging out with?" Spencer asked.

"You're being logical. Uncle Vernon never lets logic stand in the way of blaming me for things, and they can never admit that their precious son isn't perfect so if he does anything he shouldn't it's always my fault," Harry said tiredly.

"I'd say it wasn't fair but you already know that life rarely is fair or kind," Spencer said softly. "I wish I could make things better for you."

"Just knowing that there's someone in the world that doesn't despise me helps more than you know," Harry admitted smiling sadly. "It's good to know that it really isn't my fault that nobody likes me."

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed, followed or favourited this story for your support.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

"Are you enjoying the book?" Spencer asked gesturing to the Lord of the Rings Harry had been reading earlier.

"Yeah, it's a bit hard for me but the story is terrific, I'm not allowed to read fantasy books at home, my relatives are very strange about anything that's not strictly normal. They go a bit mad about it to be honest," Harry replied.

"Are they religious?" Spencer asked.

"No just so insistent that everything have to be perfectly normal. Hobbits and wizards and stuff isn't normal therefore it isn't allowed," Harry explained. "It's one of the few things Dudley can't change their minds about, he's only allowed to watch shows that don't have any magicians or supernatural beings or aliens in them. He's not even supposed to watch the cartoons about superheroes, Aunt Petunia yells when she catches him and blames me when I'm around even though I'm not allowed to watch the tellie at all."

Spencer laughed and pulled out his maths books, "I have homework to do so you can keep reading if you like. Though maybe you should go and let your family know that you're okay."

"They won't be there, they had a booking to fly over the Grand Canyon today," Harry replied.

"And you're missing it! That's a pity, I've always wanted to go, but are you sure they would still go without you if you're missing?" Spencer said sympathetically.

"Oh, I wasn't going with them, it wasn't part of the holiday package they won. They would've had to pay to take me. I was supposed to spend the day staying out of sight so nobody noticed they've gone off without me so I can't go back there now until they come home to get ready to go out for dinner. I guess I'm doing what I am supposed to be doing," Harry said chuckling a little.

"Well, I'm glad of your company but I'm afraid I really need to get some of this homework done this morning while we've got enough light, this widow faces east so once it gets to lunch time it's in the shade and not much light filters through the boarded up bits. Some of the other rooms have more light but they aren't as secure and the wind blows in and makes everything dirty. It shouldn't me take too long, feel free to read my books," Spencer said.

"Thanks," Harry replied about to turn back to his book when he was distracted by Spencer's math textbook. "Wow! That's advanced work. Americans must be much smarter than Brits if you're the same age as me. I turned nine at the end of July." Harry was used to other children his age being much larger than he was and wasn't a good judge of age.

"I'm almost twelve my birthday is the 28th of this month, but I skipped a heap of grades, most of my classmates are seventeen," Spencer replied nervously. He liked Harry, he and the younger boy seemed to understand each other and he would have loved to have a friend but he expected the boy would at best lose interest now that he knew Spencer was so much smarter than he was. He hoped he was correct in his thought that Harry didn't seem like the type of person to bully anybody.

Harry smiled, "So your school noticed you were bored because you already knew what they were teaching and moved you up. That's really cool!"

"What grade are you in, have you been advanced like me?" Spencer asked. "You're pretty smart too to be reading the Hobbit."

"No, I've never heard of anybody being advanced above the grade their age puts them in, some of the really smart kids do different work than the rest of us, but I'm not allowed to do well at school, I'm just lucky they haven't kept me down a year. Though maybe it would be better if they had, at last then I wouldn't be in the same class as Dudley but knowing my luck they would've kept him down too," Harry replied matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean you're not allowed to do well? It's every student's job to do as well as they can," Spencer asked indignantly.

"I'm not allowed to be smarter than Dudley and I swear that he tries to be as stupid as he can. Even though I do his homework for him it's an effort to appear to be a worse student that he is, he'd be failing completely if it wasn't for the marks from me doing his homework assignments." Harry replied.

"What would your aunt and uncle do if you brought home better grades than your cousin?" Spencer asked curiously.

"Punish me for cheating even though he must've known I hadn't, and make sure I didn't have the time or the energy to do it again any time soon," Harry said evasively.

Spencer took the hint that there was something seriously wrong with Harry's upbringing and he didn't want to talk about it, and let him get away with it though he was smart enough to guess exactly what Harry was trying to avoid saying. "It sucks not to be allowed to be smart. My Dad didn't punish me for it but he didn't much like how smart I was or at least wanted me to pretend to be a normal kid more. He wanted me to like sports and stuff. I really tried. He coached my t-ball team, even when I broke my arm and gave up playing, he kept coaching it right up until he left. My Mom always insisted that I should do my best at school though and supported me when I wanted to give up sports for more academic extracurricular activities."

"Where'd your dad go?" Harry asked curiously.

"I don't know. He just said he couldn't cope with Mom's illness and my weirdness anymore and packed his stuff and left about a year ago. I haven't heard from him since," Spencer said miserably. "Mom said it wasn't my fault but I overheard her begging Dad to take me with him even if only for a couple of weeks but he wouldn't, so it must have been partly my fault he didn't want to stay with us. Mom tried to explain that she only wanted him to take me until she was well but she's never going to be properly well again. I know she loves me and it really hurt that she didn't want me either. She was right though, she isn't well enough to look after me every day and on her good days it makes her sad to remember the bad days."

Harry didn't know what to say so he just leaned over and hugged his new friend in silent support. He understood how much it hurt not to be wanted and it must be even worse for Spencer who had clearly loved his father and still loved his mother, while he had never loved or even liked his relatives. After a while Spencer got up and blew his nose and went back to his homework and Harry tried to stay quiet and not ask stupid questions that upset his new friend.

-o0o-

They had a great day together. Once the morning sun had stopped shining directly through the small gaps in the dirty cracked boarded up windows the light became too dim to read without a what he called a torch and Spencer called a flashlight, Spencer had pulled on some shorts and they'd gone out to find something to eat. Spencer showing him some of the cheapest places to get a proper meal, at one of the many casino buffets, this one allowing accompanied children to eat for free. "The trick is to look clean and tidy and to walk in with a couple about the right age and colouring and stay close enough to them that you've got your meal before the staff realise you're not with them, there's a kids table near the toy area so we can sit separate and most of the time the couple don't even realise they've been followed," Spencer said. "I'm sure some of the staff recognise me and a couple of the other kids that do this but as long as we don't look homeless and we don't create any trouble or come too often they're willing to overlook it so long as management doesn't notice."

Harry laughed, they found an appropriate looking couple and Spencer was right, the couple had no idea that some of the staff thought the four of them were a family. Spencer made sure they didn't run or push into get the food and they piled their plates with the types of food Harry had never seen before let alone been allowed to eat. Harry made sure to sit up straight and eat with his best table manners. He hadn't had much opportunity to learn them himself but he had heard Aunt Petunia trying to teach Dudley. Dudley of course only managed to follow her instructions until real food was put in front of him and then he was like a pig at a feeding trough and Aunt Petunia just sighed and gave up, she had no idea that Harry had even been listening let alone had learned the lessons she was trying to teach her son.

After a huge lunch, Spencer showed him around the neighbourhood then pulled out a pack of cards and began teaching him to play poker and blackjack, (and tried to teach him how to count cards). He said that no self-respecting tourist can come to Vegas and not play cards at least a little even if Harry wasn't old enough to play in the casinos. Spencer also said that he'd read that learning to count cards would help with his memory and observation skills so he could learn things easier no matter how much school he missed he'd be able to catch up again.

Harry thought that this was an excellent idea and resolved to practice as hard as he could.

"It's nearly five. I need to go home and help Mom with dinner," Spencer said.

"The Dursleys should be back soon too. I better get back to the hotel," Harry replied reluctantly.

"Will you be able to find your way?" Spencer asked.

"Yeah, it's down that street, somewhere. I can't get lost," Harry replied.

"Well if you find yourself out on your own during the rest of the week feel free to come back and read some more, I'll try to visit the hideout tomorrow depending on how Mom is and I usually spend an hour or so after school most days, but you're welcome to come and read the books even when I'm not here." Spencer said.

"Thank you Spencer, I'm glad I met you," Harry said smiling at his first ever friend.

"Me too… I mean… I'm glad we met too," Spencer stammered also looking pleased.

-o0o-

Spencer stayed back to put everything back into the airtight containers to protect it all from the rats and was about to leave when Harry turned back up, he was pleased to see that his friend had come back at first but then became worried when he noticed that Harry had a small worn hold all with him, it's broken zipper exposing that it was bulging with ratty clothing. Then he looked up and Spencer saw the black eye and realised Harry was walking stiffly to avoid aggravating other injuries.

"What happened?" he asked concerned.

"Vernon was angry that I'd been out all night, not that they wasted any time looking for me or worrying about me. I doubt it even inconvenienced them except they didn't like the possibility I was enjoying myself. They decided that since I found a place to stay last night, I could spend the rest of the holiday there, so they didn't have to put up with me sleeping in the bath. I just need to be careful to keep track of days and get back to the motel in time so they don't fly home without me next Saturday week," Harry said trying to be brave. In truth he was badly shaken and didn't know what he would do if Spencer turned him away.

"Do you have food, or money to buy food?" Spencer asked alarmed. "You're not going to be able to go back to the buffet with your face like that."

"No but it won't be the first time I've gone hungry. The dumpsters behind the restaurants a couple of streets over look like a good place to find something to eat," Harry said flushing in shame.

"I'm sorry I haven't got much money to help you but things have been really tight financially since Dad left and Mom hasn't been well enough to work," Spencer said apologetically.

"That's okay Spencer, I'm used to looking after myself," Harry said.

"Are you going to be warm enough, it gets really cold here at night," Spencer asked anxiously.

Harry laughed, "Spencer I'm from England! And it's still almost summer! I was warm enough last night after I put on your hoodie."

"Summer ended weeks ago and I'm serious Harry, I know the desert is known for its heat but that's only during the day, it gets really cold at night it's because of the lack of humidity in the air, it just doesn't hold the heat once the sun goes down. I know it's warm here now but the temperatures will plummet at sunset," Spencer said. "I could bring you an extra blanket."

"I was fine last night Spence I slept the whole night through without even realising, I'm used to not being warm enough at night. It will be fine," Harry protested.

Spencer looked sadly at his friend who was so used to never having the things he needed, not even a warm bed at night, enough to eat or anyone to care about his wellbeing, even his own life dealing with the unpredictability of a sick mother and a father that had just walked away was better than this. But he realised his pity would be unwelcome, Harry was used to making the best of things and wanted him to be a friend which implied some sort of equality and shared enjoyment, not becoming someone who felt sorry for him and was just trying to help.

"I've really got to go, I'll try and see you tomorrow. Help yourself to the food in the box I showed you if you need it," Spencer said, reluctant to leave the smaller boy alone like this, but knowing that his mother would need him.

"I'll be fine Spencer, I was here all night last night and nothing happened. There's no way for an adult to get in here and I'm not scared of the rats or the spiders. I'll see you tomorrow or Monday," Harry said calmly.

-o0o-

It was after ten before Spencer's mother was settled and sleeping and Spencer could sneak back out with the blanket. It was also the new moon and full dark once you got this far away from the perpetual neon of the strip and commercial areas and Spencer was afraid of the dark and almost turned back in fright, but he was more worried about Harry than he was about himself, Harry was a little kid and with no body fat without even a decent coat, he would feel the cold terribly. He gritted his teeth with determination and made his way to the hideout, the streetlights were few and far between in the industrial area but Spencer knew the abandoned lot well and efficiently made his way into the derelict building in spite of his fear of the dark, he knew that as much as he wanted to turn on his flashlight, using it out in the open would only draw unwanted attention to a child out on his own. He was almost hyperventilating by the time he'd climbed through the pipe and could safely turn on the light. "Hey Harry it's just me," he called out, not wanting to frighten his friend.

"Spencer, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Harry asked confused. "Is something wrong with your Mom?"

"It's not that late, and I'm not here to stay," Spencer replied entering the small room he'd made his own and covering the younger boy lying on the old mattress with the blanket and handing him the hastily made sandwich he'd brought. "Stay warm and sleep well Harry."

"Good night Spencer, thanks," Harry said smiling brightly and snuggling into the blanket. It felt like Spencer was tucking him in for the night. Nobody had ever done that for him in his memory and the feeling of emotional warmth was even more welcome than the physical warmth of the blanket.

Assuming that Harry was just colder than he was willing to let on Spencer just grinned, glad that he'd overcome his fears to help his friend.

"Night Harry. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," Harry asked.

Spencer climbed up into the pipe and took a deep breath before determinedly turning off the flashlight and hurrying out across the abandoned yard and running as fast as he could towards the more lit up streets, and carefully made his way home.

-o0o-

"So, you and your cousin are not going to school while you're here?" Spencer asked.

"No, we're not going to be here long enough and Vernon and Petunia thought Dudley could learn more by going to all the tourist things and experiencing America. The teachers at home gave us a heap of extra homework to make up for missing classes. I've already done Dudley's," Harry replied.

"Don't they notice that both sets of homework are written by the same person?"

"No, I write mine with my left hand so it looks like I don't write as well," Harry said. "And I'll only do about half of mine. Dudley will try to wreck most of it anyway."

"Why do your family dislike you so much? And why didn't they leave you in England if they didn't want you with them?" Spencer asked.

"Uncle Vernon's boss delivered the tickets to him at the airport so I had to be there, Vernon's been claiming child allowances for me so they were expecting him to bring two children. If his sister would have taken me while they were away, they would have brought Dudley's best friend instead but they couldn't think of a reasonable reason to leave me behind."

"So, they brought you and let you roam the streets here instead," Spencer said sarcastically. "You didn't tell me why they dislike you so much. Or why they took you in at all if they weren't prepared to care for you."

Harry looked at his friend, the impulse to confide in him was strong. He wanted to be totally honest with the older boy who had tried so hard to help him and when he was kicked out by his relatives, helping him find food and easing the unbearable hurt of knowing his relatives didn't just dislike him but truly hated him. That it was only their fear of the opinions of the neighbours that stopped them from dumping him in an orphanage every time they threatened to. But he was afraid too, his relatives hated him because of the freaky things that happened around him and Harry had managed to not have anything like that happen when Spencer was there. Would Spencer also turn on him when he knew, would he even believe him or think he was making up stories. Something told him Spencer would not react well if he thought Harry was lying. Still the chance of it happening here were pretty high when he was frightened or upset. He'd already had something freaky happen with the old fireplace during the night when he was cold and scared. It would be better if he warned his friend, than if it occurred when Spencer was there without him expecting it.

"Freaky things happen to me and around me and they say it's my fault," Harry blurted outlooking at his feet.

"What do you mean? What sort of things?" Spencer asked.

"Well I tried to jump behind the bins when I was running away from Dudley and his friends just before we came and ended up on the roof, I have no idea how I got there. My hair grows back like this overnight no matter how short it's been cut, a jumper I hated and would've been picked on by everyone for wearing shrunk while Aunt Petunia was trying to force me into it and once when a teacher was yelling at me for something Dudley did her wig turned blue, sometimes when I drop something it won't break, even Petunia's fancy glasses on the tiles though they break so easy normally, and I heal really quickly, sometimes overnight, not just scrapes and bruises but serious things like when I thought my hand was broken. I don't know how it happens or if it's my fault but I've never heard of things like that happening to someone else," Harry blurted rapidly. Anyone else wouldn't have been able to understand with the speed Harry was talking but Spencer's mind worked even quicker.

"That doesn't make sense, I don't know how those things could even happen, much less how you could be responsible for them, maybe they're just blaming you like you said they do for everything else," Spencer said blankly. As incredible as the story was, he never once doubted that Harry believed what he was saying. His logical mind pointed out that a child's belief in something didn't necessarily make it true, one only had to look at Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy to be aware of that, and children often misunderstood things the adults around them said, or in his experience adults frequently lied to children thinking it wasn't necessary for them to know the truth.

"I know it doesn't and I thought it was just my aunt and uncle being mean, blaming me for things I didn't do again, like they do when Dudley breaks something or gets in trouble at school, but now I think they're right. It must be my fault though I don't know how I'm doing it, it happened here last night and nobody else was in the room. I was still a bit cold and I could hear something moving about in the dark too big to be the rats and got scared and the next thing I know the noise is gone and the rubbish in the fireplace was burning brightly, lighting up the room. The fire burnt all night though there wasn't anywhere near enough stuff in the fireplace to fuel it and such a small fire shouldn't have made that much light," Harry replied.

Spencer looked at the fireplace and saw that the rubbish that'd been there was burnt, but he couldn't smell smoke which didn't make a lot of sense. The chimney didn't work. He'd tried to burn things in the fireplace during the winter and the room had filled with smoke. He was grateful that the stuff in the fireplace really had all been rubbish. Though a lot of it was plastic and should have given off toxic fumes.

"So, whatever it is that you make happen, you don't really have control of it but it usually does what you want or helps you when you need it and you've never actually hurt anybody with it?" Spencer clarified.

"Well yeah!" Harry admitted.

"Then I don't think there is a reason to be afraid of you or for me not be your friend because of it. If you don't want to hurt me, then from what you've told me I shouldn't be hurt by it, whatever it is," Spencer declared.

"No of course I don't want to hurt you, I want to you to like me," Harry said smiling relievedly at his friend.

"Have you always lived with your Aunt and Uncle?" Spencer asked.

"Ever since I can remember, my parents died when I was one," Harry replied.

"What did they do for a living? What happened to them?" Spencer asked.

"I don't really know. My aunt and uncle said Dad was a wastrel and a drunk and took drugs and Mum was a whore and they died in a car accident because Dad was driving drunk. I don't want to believe them but I don't know anybody else that knew them," Harry said sadly.

"I'm sorry Harry. I shouldn't have asked," Spencer said.

"It's okay, you had no way of knowing," Harry said embarrassed.

"You know that your aunt and uncle are terrible people! Nobody should say things like that to an orphan about his parents, even if it was true and considering all the lies they tell people about you they could easily be lying about your parents too," Spencer said indignantly.

"You really think so?" Harry asked hopefully. "But why would they lie like that? It wouldn't make them look better. If they wanted to use me to make them look superior to the neighbours, it would've been better for them to claim my Dad was a doctor or barrister or something important, and more upper middle class."

"Yes I would've thought so too, except that if your parents were known to be respectable people, everyone would've expected they'd have money to leave you and it would look odd that you were always dressed in rags and hand-me-downs, and it would make you more upper class than Dudley. I'm sure they couldn't stand people thinking that," Spencer pointed out. "I'm surprised that people don't question why they don't buy you new clothes anyway. If they've got money for overseas holidays they could easily afford to dress two children properly."

"My parents didn't leave me anything so Vernon and Petunia are probably telling the truth," Harry said hopelessly.

"I'm not so sure if that's true Harry, you only know that's what your aunt and uncle said," Spencer said. "You were too young to remember a will reading or to manage your own bank accounts or the sale of your parent's house and car and other assets. Your aunt and uncle could've told all those lies about your parents so that they didn't have to spend the money they get from your parents on you."

"But they're always complaining about me being dumped on them without a penny and how much it costs them to look after me," Harry said.

Spencer frowned, "Maybe that's because they're horrible people that would say anything to make you feel bad. But you already know that they're lying about how much of a financial burden you are. You don't cost them much. They don't buy you clothes and I bet they don't buy you toys or books either and you go to a public school so they don't have school fees for you and Britain has free health care. And you've actually put weight on this week even though you're mostly eating out of dumpsters so they're not feeding you anywhere near enough, and from the callouses I can see on your hands it looks like you do a lot of chores for your keep. It would cost them very little to have you and if you weren't there they'd have to either do the work you do themselves or pay someone to do it," Spencer said astutely.

"Yeah, all of the cleaning, laundry and gardening and most of the maintenance and cooking," Harry replied.

"That's slave labour! Some of those things wouldn't be safe for a kid to do!" Spencer exclaimed horrified. "Though I shouldn't be surprised they mistreat you this way too considering the malnutrition and the bruises you had when you got back here that day we met."

"Yeah, that wasn't bad though, we could hear the people moving about through the walls and he couldn't risk the people in the room next door hearing him hit me," Harry replied.

"You ought to go to the police when you get back home, even foster care has to be better than that," Spencer said.

"I don't know…" Harry said hesitantly. "What if it's not better? There's some horrible stories about foster care and orphanages."

"And I'm sure your relatives make sure that you hear all of the worst stories so you will put up with the way they treat you and be grateful to them for not sending you to one. There's some horrible stories about living on the streets too but this week hasn't been so bad, has it?" Spencer felt guilty saying this, he knew that Harry's week living in the abandoned basement hadn't been typical of most people's lives on the street and that there were a lot of people involved in the foster care system for the money they were paid that didn't care about the welfare of the children in their care but there were also a lot of people that did, that took in children out of a desire to give them a home. Harry could get lucky and even most of the bad foster homes would be better than what he described about his life with his relatives as long as he wasn't sexually assaulted.

"No, this week has been great, but it's warm here. I wouldn't survive a British winter on the streets and I don't think I'd be lucky enough to find a hideout like this, and a friend to help me," Harry said.

"So, you must admit that you might be wrong about foster care too," Spencer said.

Harry sighed, "I don't want to find out. The Dursley's aren't that bad, not when we are at home at least. They wouldn't hurt me enough to draw attention."

"I hope you're right about that," Spencer said worriedly.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed and favourited this story for your support.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Spencer fled the house after an extremely difficult morning with his mother who hadn't recognised him, he'd finally managed to sedate her and she'd sleep for at least seven hours. He needed help to bandage the wound on his back, and his mother had destroyed the first aid supplies he kept at the house so he either needed to go and ask Harry for help and admit to him how sick his mother really was, or go to one of the free clinics and see the doctor. A doctor that would take one look at this burn and want to call in CPS since it was blatantly obvious that he couldn't have injured himself by accident. The choice was easy so long as Harry could help him, he thought Harry might be quite experienced at bandaging up his own wounds and would understand the need to avoid seeking medical assistance.

Harry was asleep when he arrived but willing to help once Spencer woke him up and explained the situation, "I'd do it myself but I just can't reach and burns get infected really easily if they're not cleaned up properly," Spencer said apologetically.

"It's fine. I don't mind helping you and I'm quite good at patching myself up, even if I do say so myself, but what would you have done if I wasn't here?" Harry asked curiously.

"Gone to the medical clinic just off the strip, they'll see street kids and stuff without an ID. It's not the best medical care and I'd have to wait hours and risk being truant or falling asleep at school tomorrow but it's better than having a nosy Doctor or nurse call CPS and tell them that my mother threw hot oil at me," Spencer said. "She didn't throw it at me, you know. She threw the oil at one of her hallucinations and I was just in the way. It wasn't her fault, she didn't mean to hurt me. But I'm glad I didn't have to go to them, this may have been an injury too far even for their keep their nose out of things attitude."

Harry didn't really understand Spencer's mother's illness but he wasn't about to argue with his friend, instead he reached for the first aid kit and then started helping Spencer with the slow progress of getting his shirt off, it had already stuck to his burnt skin. He carefully and thoroughly cleaned the wound, becoming more upset that his friend had been hurt like this with every flinch and gasp of pain Spencer tried unsuccessfully to suppress.

Spencer could feel the air getting heavier and starting to swirl around the room in spite of knowing that the weather was still outside. He wondered what exactly was going on then lost his track of thought as he felt a moment of intense pain across his back. It faded and he was surprised his wound no longer seemed to hurt at all, he thought that maybe it was just relief that the pain of cleaning it out was over.

"Um I don't think you need to bandage it..." Harry began, sounding frightened.

"What do you mean, it will get infected for sure, use the antibiotic cream and bandage it the best you can," Spencer said.

"It's healed," Harry said shakily. He rubbed his hand across where the burn had been and it didn't hurt at all. "It's totally gone. There's not even a scar."

"How?" Spencer asked.

"I didn't mean it, it just sometimes happens when I'm cleaning and dressing wounds, I wasn't trying to hurt you," Harry said still sounding frightened.

"You mean you made it heal itself? Like the other inexplicable things you told me that you sometimes do?" Spencer said, beginning to move and stretch his shoulder, pleased with the results. "Whatever you did, thanks! You've done a good job of it, it feels like it was never hurt at all. Will it stay healed or will it come back?"

"I think it should stay healed, mine never came back until next time," Harry said.

"Next time?" Spencer asked.

"Not until Vernon hit me in the same spot. Sometimes if it was within a day or two the bones seemed to break easier than they normally did but after a week they were back to normal," Harry admitted.

Spencer looked at his younger friend in horror before wrapping his arms around the boy and hugging gently.

"Thanks for healing me Harry, that's wonderful, but I wish you hadn't had to learn to heal yourself like that," Spencer said smiling sadly.

"You're not going to send me away?" Harry asked.

"Why should I? You didn't hurt me. In fact, you saved me from weeks of pain and the risk of infection and needing a doctor and worrying about the risk of CPS. I just wish you could teach me to do it myself for next time."

"I would if I could! I can't always heal myself and I have no idea how I do it or why it works sometimes and not others. It happens without my control when I'm upset or desperate, but not always even then. I'm just glad whatever it is healed you instead of hurting you," Harry said, still shaken.

"Harry, I know your relatives are scared of this thing you do, and they've made you afraid of it as well. But has it ever hurt anyone?" Spencer asked softly.

"It's pushed Vernon and Dudley back away from me a couple of times, and they fell backwards. They weren't that badly hurt but they did both hit their heads and were dazed for a bit," Harry replied.

"Why would you want them pushed back? Were they hurting you at the time?" Spencer asked, intuitively knowing they were.

"Vernon was trying to choke me and Dudley was trying to hold me down so his friends Piers and Gordon could hit me with their cricket bats," Harry said.

"So on both occasions it sounds like you may have saved your life pushing them away like that. And they weren't hurt anywhere near as much as you would've been if they weren't pushed away, were they?" Spencer asked.

"No," Harry said slowly. "They had a few bumps and bruises but nothing serious."

"So then it's safe to say that whatever is happening this isn't violent or trying to hurt people. The only time it's hurt anyone was when it was protecting you from serious harm. Both Dudley's friend and your uncle could have easily killed you if you didn't stop them, and the wounds you healed could have been quite serious if the Dursleys refused to take you to a doctor," Spencer said. "But I don't want to harm you so there's no reason for me to be afraid you'll hurt me."

Spencer saw that Harry still looked worried that he'd lose his friendship and decided actions might be better than words in this case. He moved to lie on the mattress. "Come on, let's get some sleep," he said moving close to the wall and holding the blankets open invitingly.

"What, you want to share?" Harry asked in astonishment.

"Yeah I sleep in with Mom all the time when one of us is feeling sad or scared, haven't you ever snuggled in with someone? Not even after a nightmare?" Spencer asked.

"No. They never touch me other than to hurt me, I don't even remember being tucked in for the night until you did it the other day," Harry replied.

"Well I'm sure you'll like sharing a bed even if it is a little small and cramped. We're both thin enough to fit, and you can trust me not to hurt you deliberately," Spencer said encouragingly.

Harry hesitantly climbed in and lay on his back. Spencer lay beside him almost but not quite touching.

"Thank you for healing me," Spencer said. "I need to be home in time to clean up the oil on the floor before Mum wakes up in the morning so if I'm gone when you wake up that's all it is. I'm not leaving you. I'm not rejecting our friendship and I'll see you later."

"Will your mum remember hurting you? Will it frighten her or make her delusions worse that you've healed overnight?" Harry asked anxiously.

Spencer sighed, "No it'll be fine. She won't remember hurting me because in her mind I wasn't me when she threw the oil. She would've been really upset tomorrow or next time she's well enough to notice that I got hurt but she doesn't remember or think that she might have done it," he tried to explain.

"You would've tried to hide the fact that you were hurt from your mum? It's happened before?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but she would still have noticed this time, if she had a good day. I could barely move my arms," Spencer replied.

-o0o-

Harry had thought it would be hard to fall asleep with Spencer beside him even if he did trust the older boy not to hurt him or take advantage of him letting down his guard but the aftereffects of the adrenalin spike when he realised he'd used his freaky whatever it was to heal Spencer, and the energy the healing took soon had him sound asleep. Spencer stayed awake a little longer trying to make sense of what had happened. They way Harry healed him went against everything he knew about physiology and wounds, just as Harry's previous anecdotes went against the laws of physics, but he couldn't deny that it had happened and that it had to have been Harry that did it somehow since he said it happened to him before. He fell asleep still trying to puzzle it out and woke at first light spooned up behind Harry with his arms wrapped around the smaller boy. It shouldn't've been exactly comfortable, both of them were too thin and bony and Harry's spine and scapulas pressed hard into Spencer's ribs but neither of them really noticed.

"I've got to go," Spencer said reluctantly getting up and pulling on his shoes, early next morning. Mom's meds will be wearing off and she'll wake up soon. I need to clean up before she wakes up and be there to make her take her morning medication before she's awake enough to object so she doesn't have another bad day."

"Good luck, I hope she's better today," Harry said tiredly. "I'd offer to come with you and help clean up but I guess that would make your mum worse if she sees me."

"Yes I'm afraid that it would. Are you okay?" Spencer asked, the morning light enabling him to see exactly how drawn and exhausted Harry looked.

"Yeah I'm fine, I'm always tired for a while after the freaky stuff happens, particularly when it's healing, I'll be good as new with a bit more sleep," Harry replied tiredly, lying back down.

Spencer gave him a worried look but decided that Harry must know what he's talking about and left to go and clean up the house before his mother woke up and reacted badly to the mess if she didn't remember what had happened, resolving to check on his friend as soon as he could.

Harry was still sleeping when he arrived back after school that afternoon but he looked better so Spencer woke him up. "Harry are you okay, did you have any lunch? Do you want to go and try to get in to the buffet for an early dinner?"

"Yeah just give me a minute to tidy up a bit but I don't have any clean clothes," Harry replied. "They're not going to let me in like this." He gestured to his ratty outfit showing signs of being worn at least one time too many since its last washing.

"I brought you some extra water, soap and a towel and some of my clothes I've grown out of," Spencer said. "I'm sorry I should have thought about it earlier. I'll take your stuff home and run it through the washer with my stuff."

Harry stripped off unselfconsciously and washed himself thoroughly, shivering slightly with the cold water though the room was warm. He pulled on Spencer's old shorts and button up shirt and brushed his hair as well as he could. "How'd I look?" he asked. His hair was still greasy and he was still pale and way too thin to look healthy, Spencer's old clothes were still a little big but nowhere near as bad as Dudley's cast offs had been.

"Good and respectable," Spencer said smiling. "Let's go."

"They look like a good couple to follow in. They'll be paying for a family anyway so it wouldn't cost them any more to be charged for us as well," Spencer said gesturing as they waited outside the hotel trying hard not to appear as if they were loitering. They approached a family and tried to follow them close enough to look like they were with them without the family noticing. They were successful but one of the waitresses grinned at Spencer as she handed the two boys their plates.

"Enjoy your meal, boys."

"Thanks Ma'am," Spencer said politely and Harry copied him trying to use the same accent.

"She's seen me here often enough to know that I'm not really with them," Spencer whispered to Harry.

Spencer and Harry followed their chosen family straight to the buffet and loaded their plates before looking around for somewhere inconspicuous to sit. Suddenly Harry paled. "The Dursleys are here," he said.

"Where?" Spencer asked. "Let's sit away from them and don't worry too much they probably won't notice you in my clothes."

"There right next to the buffet," Harry said groaning.

"Okay then, we will sit over on the kids table and I'll get your meal. Is there anything you don't like to eat?"

"Not really but there's a lot of things on the buffet that I've never tried," Harry replied.

"Which one's are the Dursleys?" Spencer asked.

"The blonde kid in the red t-shirt with the fat man with the moustache and the skinny woman in the blue dress," Harry described.

Spencer looked and grimaced, he understood now why Harry had felt so safe in their hideout and why his clothes fit so very poorly. The larger boy would never fit into the pipe entrance let alone be able to crawl through it, and Spencer was actually surprised that they made children's clothing that large, he wondered whether they'd had to have them custom made to fit, not that they fit him very well.

"He's huge, practically as big as the guys on the football team at school though not nearly as tall," Spencer said.

"But nowhere near as fit, it looks like he's put on weight since arriving here. That shirt fit last week, I'm glad we're not home or I'd be blamed for shrinking it in the wash," Harry said.

"You don't think it shrunk?" Spencer asked.

"No if they've been eating at the buffets everyday he's probably nearly literally eaten his weight in deserts this week," Harry said. "We're going to get home and I'll get the blame when none of his school clothes are going to fit."

"I thought when I first saw him with what you'd told me about his eating habits that he could have Prader Willi syndrome but there's no way that a parent would let a child with that have as many helpings as they wanted, they'd never stop," Spencer said.

"I've never heard of it," Harry said.

"It's a genetic defect that causes extreme obesity in children and adults, they just do not experience the feeling of being full that normal people get. They will literally eat themselves to death if they are not stopped by someone in time. He has some of the other characteristics according to you as well though Prader Willi children are normally short for their age," Spencer replied.

"What other characteristics?" Harry asked.

"Low IQ, blond, fair skin, delayed development, and excessive appetite, which can lead to obesity if not carefully managed, and temper tantrums" Spencer replied.

"I don't know that he's intellectually disabled, he's just stupid and doesn't want to work to learn," Harry said.

"And he isn't short sighted or short in stature, nor have you told me about him having any obsessive-compulsive behaviours. I don't think he has it but it would've explained why his parents hadn't managed to prevent him from overeating to the point he does," Spencer said.

"Managed! They don't even try. I've never heard either of them suggest that he couldn't possibly still be hungry or that he had to wait for dinner to be ready rather than having a dinner sized snack immediately before dinner," Harry snorted. "I'll bet good money that even after six helpings of dessert when they pass the candy shop, he'll whine for candy and they will go in and buy him what would be a month's supply for anyone else, and buy him more tomorrow after he's eaten it all."

Spencer chuckled disbelievingly. "You know they're not doing him any favours spoiling him like that, in fact they're abusing him as badly as they abuse you just in a different way. Being that overweight would make it difficult for him to enjoy a lot of different activities and experiences and it must affect his self-esteem."

"I suppose you're right, I hadn't thought about it," Harry admitted.

Spencer steered clear of the larger boy which wasn't difficult as Dudley was pushing and shoving his way to the desert table yet again as Spencer filled his and Harry's plates with roast beef and pork and a healthy selection of vegetables, more than he would normally have chosen. Harry had chosen a lot of vegetables last time they came, he'd said they sat more easily in his stomach. Spencer wondered whether that was a result of not getting enough to eat on a regular basis or a psychosomatic reaction to Dudley's choice in foods.

"They're on the desert course they won't be here much longer," he said to Harry as he handed over his dinner.

"Don't bet on it, Dudley can easily eat a dozen helpings of desserts and Vernon isn't far behind him. I doubt they will leave here until the buffet closes unless he they run out of desserts or they have something else planned," Harry said cynically. "Besides Dudley's so spoiled that I bet he was allowed to start with dessert."

"There's nothing wrong with starting with dessert. I sometimes do it myself," Spencer replied.

"Then why didn't you do it today?" Harry asked curiously.

"Apart from not wanting to get near your cousin while he was pushing and shoving his way to the desserts, I thought you looked like you needed a proper meal first," Spencer replied, adding quietly.

"I was worried how exhausted you were after healing me and I noticed that you haven't really gone for sweet stuff when we're scavenging."

"I'm fine," Harry replied automatically, but Spencer noticed that he quickly finished the large meal he'd dished him up and was looking back towards the buffet and the Dursleys as if considering whether it would be worth risking running into them to get more food.

"I'll get you some more. There's also spaghetti bolognaise, carbonara, fish and chips, pizza and some prawns if you'd like some," Spencer offered.

"No, eat your meal while it's warm," Harry protested. "Having a break before eating more will do me good. I don't want to risk making myself sick."

Spencer obliged and took his time finishing his meal as Harry looked around the area. "So this is set up for kids who don't want to eat with their parents?" he asked amazed.

"I think it's designed more to cater to the parents who don't want to put up with their children whining about being bored while they enjoy a few drinks with their meal. They don't make a lot of money on the food but the drinks are pretty pricey," Spencer said. "There's toys and stuff in those bins over there if you want to look. They're mostly for younger kids though"

"No thanks I don't want to be caught off guard if Dudley comes over, we don't know that what you saw him getting wasn't already his fourth or fifth dessert helping," Harry replied.

"Well at least we don't have to worry about being the reason the buffet doesn't make a profit today," Spencer joked.

"Are they more likely to kick us out because of them though?" Harry asked worriedly, not wanting to be the reason his friend was embarrassed like that.

"No it will make too much fuss now we're here, especially when we are behaving ourselves," Spencer replied. "What do you want to eat, more roast, some of the other mains or are you ready for dessert?"

"Some of the other mains, but nothing fried or too creamy," Harry said. "I'm still really hungry and desserts aren't really filling." Harry was very rarely allowed anything rich or sweet and was afraid it would make him feel ill if he ate too much fatty food or sugar on top of the biggest meal he'd ever eaten.

"So at least one of the laws of physics seems to hold true, whatever you do requires a lot of energy to make it happen," Spencer said speculatively.

"I'm always exhausted and super hungry after doing whatever it is, but I haven't learned any physics yet, so I don't know if that's what you meant," Harry replied.

"I was talking about the conservation of matter and energy, where nothing is ever really lost or gained. Healing requires a lot of energy to do, however it works and then you sleep and need to eat more to replace the energy you've used," Spencer explained. "In simple terms, you used all the energy you got from the food you'd eaten yesterday to heal me which is why you need to eat enough today to make up for using all the food yesterday to heal me instead of to do the normal things your body does with the energy you eat."

Spencer brought back two more plates of the healthier offerings from the buffet and Harry ate another full helping of main meals, trying a lot of foods he'd never tried before and deciding that he liked barbeque ribs, prawns, and spaghetti but that American pizza didn't seem as nice as the scraps he'd gotten one-day Dudley had had his friends over for a pizza dinner, maybe it was because by then he wasn't as hungry as he'd been that night when everything would have tasted amazing.

Petunia was watching her son calmly, seeming not at all embarrassed by the scene her family were making as Vernon complained loudly and Dudley was throwing a tantrum about his favourite dessert tray being empty (because he had already eaten the entire dozen servings) as Harry and Spencer left and Harry breathed a sigh of relief when they escaped without the Dursleys coming over and making a scene about him being there.

The staff were trying to placate Vernon who had come over to add his complaints as the kitchen staff rushed out with another tray of the pudding.

"I'm sorry you didn't get any sweets," Harry said apologetically. "I know you love them."

"Don't worry about it Harry. It was my decision not to go near your cousin and the dessert table. I could've if I'd wanted to," Spencer reassured him. "Seeing the way he eats actually turned me off the idea of eating sweets today."

"Seeing him eat turns most civilised people off eating anything at all," Harry retorted. "Don't let him spoil something you enjoy. You're never going to be like him. If you want to be different don't change your diet, work on your table manners." He backtracked hurriedly. "That wasn't a criticism, your manners are pretty good, especially when compared to Dudley's."

Spencer grinned. "No offence taken Harry, I know my manners are pretty ordinary. Dad used to correct me when he was home but Mom rarely notices what we're eating let alone my table manners and having more than one knife or fork each is just providing her unnecessary weapons. Still maybe we should get a book on it since nobody else is going to teach us."

Harry laughed then sobered. He thought that Spencer's habit of looking things up in books when he realised other kids seemed to know things he didn't, was what hid the fact he was pretty much totally bringing himself up from his teachers.

"Maybe that's why your aunt is so skinny, because Dudley's eating ruins even her appetite," Spencer said.

"She doesn't think she's skinny, she's always on a diet, but that could be why she lets him eat like a pig at a trough, if it helps her diet," Harry said thoughtfully. "It doesn't make a lot of sense otherwise she puts a lot of emphasis on how good her manners are compared to the neighbours, and praising Dudley's good manners in social settings that don't involve eating when they have guests. I don't know why she doesn't care about his table manners too."

"I think she's just spoiled him to the point she's incapable of correcting his behaviour about anything," Spencer replied. "She's got to at least have tried to teach him manners because you had to have learned your good manners somewhere."

"Yeah she did, she's been teaching Dudley how to greet important guests and insisting he practices acting like a gentleman and stuff, but she didn't know that I was listening and she pretty much gave up about a year ago. Dudley can pretend to have perfect manners and sip his tea like a gentleman until she brings out the food. She doesn't even see it as much of a problem though, she never tells him off for bad manners, just praises his healthy appetite and says he's a fine growing boy," Harry said.

"She doesn't think that letting her son hit you, or tell lies to get you in trouble as a problem either does she?" Spencer asked. "She has to know that encouraging him to hurt you was encouraging him to be a bully not just to you but to other kids too, and encouraging dishonesty. He was far too young to understand that you were to be the only exception to treating everybody else properly. Surely, she is aware that if he continues that way, he's going to end up escalating to breaking the law."

"She doesn't see that because I don't count. I'm not a normal person to her, I'm a freak and how they treat me is appropriate for a freak," Harry said resignedly.

"You're not a freak, no matter what that unique gift of yours is you are still a normal boy, but it suits her purposes to think of you like that to excuse her treatment of you. In her own mind at least. Like Hitler got away with the atrocities against the Jews by dehumanising them in the public eye first, " Spencer replied nodding his understanding.

Harry resolved to read up on Hitler and the Jews to better understand what Spencer was talking about. He didn't want to admit ignorance again but he was building up quite a list of things to look up in the library when he got home.

"Or maybe she actually knows what makes you able to do the unexplainable things you've told me about," Spencer suggested. "It might be a specific family gift and she's jealous that you got it and she and Dudley didn't. That could explain why she's so horrible about your mother too, if she had the gifts you do."

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed, favourited or followed this story for your support.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief when they escaped the dining area without the Dursleys noticing him and making a scene about him being there. Since they were both feeling too full to do anything active Spencer showed him the public library and they chose some new books, Spencer trying to find anything that might explain what Harry had been able to do for him the night before, while Harry read through a history of the Jewish concentration camps, and then found the book 'Schindler's List'. It was more than a little too advanced for him emotionally but he understood all the words so he borrowed it anyway and quickly saw what Spencer had been talking about. By declaring the Jews to be different from the rest of them and imposing restrictions on them slowly nobody complained against it but a few of the more outspoken Jews themselves. Even the Jewish people became accustomed to being treated as less human than the non-Jewish Germans, and by the time the treatment was so bad that they started to protest as a whole they were no longer listened to and nobody paid attention to the widescale abuse and atrocities. He could see Spencer's point. If a new family moved into the area and treated one of their sons the way the Dursley's treated Harry it would be talked about everywhere and the neighbourhood would be up in arms over the poor boy but because it was just Harry, nobody gave his treatment a second thought.

"I can't find anything that describes what you can do other than fantasy fiction of fairies, witches, and aliens," Spencer said half teasing.

Harry laughed. Well I could be an alien, nobody except Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia has ever claimed to know my parents and they won't speak of them, except to say they were horrible people, which you think could have been lies," Harry joked. "But why would anyone leave an alien baby with the likes of the Dursleys? And the Dursleys wouldn't have kept me if they knew I was an alien, unless someone was paying them an absolute fortune to keep me hidden, and they're not rich enough for that."

"No they wouldn't, if officials knew you were an alien, you'd probably be monitored and tested, not abandoned," Spencer agreed. "The same goes for fairies, druids and witches, if they existed it stands to reason that they would have their own societies, there's no reason they'd leave you with the Dursleys either. It wouldn't make sense," Spencer said sighing slightly disappointedly. "I hate to say it but you must actually be related to those horrible people. But it has to be something, what you can do is a special gift of some sort, it's not something that can be taught or learned by other people. It had to come from somewhere. I doubt you're the only one who can do it even if neither of us have ever heard of someone else with these abilities."

"And it can't be controlled," Harry said despondently. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I could heal you but most of the worst beatings of my life were because I did something abnormal. I wouldn't do it again anywhere near the Dursleys if I could help it, and I wouldn't want to do it in front of anyone else either. I don't need more people thinking that I'm a freak."

"Hey, you're not a freak, you could be a future superhero, they use masks and costumes to hide their identities so nobody in their regular lives knows what they can do," Spencer teased.

"I don't think so Spencer. Comics aren't real and I'm not cut out to be a superhero. I'm just Harry," Harry protested. "Superheroes are brave and strong and care about saving people. I just want to be left alone and maybe have a few friends that accept me that I'd be willing to help out."

"Are you saying that if your cousin was in danger and you could fix it, you wouldn't?" Spencer asked curious but not judgmentally.

"I don't know. I'd get the blame for whatever happened to him, whether I tried to help him or not. Particularly if he saw me there. They'd never believe that whatever happened wasn't my fault, even if there were a dozen people trying to tell them differently or I was nowhere near him at the time, and I don't even know if the Dursleys would want me to help him if it meant using my freaky stuff on him," Harry said. "I probably would help him if it didn't put me at risk just so I wouldn't get in as much trouble for letting him be hurt even if it wasn't my fault, but I'm no hero Spencer. I want to survive, not save the world!" He hoped that his friend wasn't too disappointed in him.

Spencer nodded acceptingly. "I understand that. Survival instinct is strong in all of us and I'll admit that I'm a coward when it comes down to standing up to people bullying me or anyone else."

"That's not being a coward, it's just common sense not to make things worse. Standing up for someone else isn't going to help either of you in the long run," Harry said practically.

"You said you lit a fire the first night here and you healed my back. That's two incidents in just over a week. Does it normally happen that often?" Spencer asked.

"No, it's usually months between incidents, if it happened every week the Dursleys would have killed me by now. But maybe it's more common here because I wasn't punished the first time and I'm not injured or starving which I would've been if the Dursleys had caught me lighting fires with my freakiness, that is if they didn't kick me out of the house for fear I'd burn it down," Harry said thoughtfully.

"But there must have been times you made something happen that the Dursleys didn't find out about," Spencer said.

Harry thought back, "Some," he agreed. "I've healed myself several times and they either haven't seemed to notice or have been too grateful that they don't have to take me to the hospital with broken bones to question it. And I've made a light in my cupboard sometimes when I've woken up after a nightmare, and some other stuff when I've been alone in a room and broken a plate or something and fixed it before I could get in trouble for it."

"And you're sure that succeeding in using it to help you like that hasn't resulted in doing whatever it is again so soon before now?" Spencer said frowning. "So what's different? Wait in your cupboard, why would you make light in the cupboard and not near the bed?"

"Maybe it's you. You accepted that it wasn't freaky or frightening and it didn't make you stop wanting to be my friend," Harry replied, ignoring the cupboard slip.

"So you're suggesting that you accepted that you can do these things and it's okay for it to happen because I accepted it? You think you're doing more special things because of me?" Spencer asked sceptically.

"Well doesn't that make more sense than believing that there's something about being in America

that makes me do more of this freaky stuff than I could in England?" Harry argued. "We can't even find out what it was, there's no way we are going to find out what it is about being here that makes it happen more often."

Spencer sighed, frustrated. "You're right we will never know for certain! But I hate not knowing something this big and not even being able to find out anything about it."

"You know what you can do with your memory is just as special as this freaky thing I do," Harry said.

"No it isn't, yes an eidetic memory or an IQ as high as mine are rare, but they have been documented before and there are even tests for it," Spencer countered.

"It's still pretty amazing and it will probably do you more good than the ability to make freaky things happen," Harry said. "And there's one other thing I should have told you. I can't believe I forgot to warn you about it. The incidents that happened at school with the teacher's wig and jumping all the way up onto the roof. Other people don't seem to remember them. Normally something like that would be talked about for at least a few days but nobody said anything even that day. The only one that seemed to remember was Dudley and he seemed frightened. I don't know if their brain just refused to admit they weren't imagining things or they were somehow made to forget about it. They even forgot about the detentions I was supposed to have after the roof. Maybe it isn't safe for you to be trying to investigate this freakiness. I'm sorry I should have remembered that and told you before now."

Spencer looked frightened for a moment. "I only looked in books at the library and I check out so many books every month that I doubt anyone would've noticed me investigating. I guess I maybe shouldn't do a computer search about it."

"I wouldn't if I were you," Harry said. "I don't know how much they are monitoring for searches, I don't know why if somebody came and took away the memories from the teachers and the class at home they haven't come to take yours too."

Spencer thought hard, "Either it's a British policy only and isn't done here for some reason, or it's because this is an abandoned area so they aren't monitoring the building or they assumed nobody else was here," he speculated.

Harry nodded, "Yeah it could be either," he agreed. "Or maybe they did check on me when I made the fire the other night and because I was alone the first time they didn't bother to check the second time."

"There was no sign of anyone else being here, the dust hasn't been disturbed except the path we walk through, if they'd sent an adult he wouldn't have been able to get in the way we do," Spencer said anxiously. He didn't like the thought of some unknown agency watching his friend.

"But there wouldn't be if they came here to take memories and cover up whatever it is I do, then they would be careful not to leave signs, and what if they can move about by magic like I ended up on the roof of the school one day I was running away from Dudley," Harry said also shuddering at the idea of being watched and monitored.

"I don't think anyone is watching us," Spencer said reassuringly. "We would have noticed. Any adult would've tried to stop us from sneaking into the buffet."

Harry wasn't so sure about that if it was someone from a secret society trying to hide the freaky things he did, would they care about other stuff? They didn't seem to back home. They came and made people forget about whatever he'd done but never checked out why he'd done it or noticed that he was being beaten by the Dursleys for doing it. He wanted to tell Spencer that but he decided to let it go. He didn't want to frighten Spencer into not wanting to be his friend anymore, particularly when he was the first person who he could remember caring about him.

-o0o-

Harry had two other episodes of accidental magic over the remaining time he stayed at the hideout, though of course he and Spencer still didn't know that that's what it was. The first time he was alone late at night, and was startled by a stranger in the outer room and unconsciously cast a repelling charm to make him leave. Harry wasn't even aware that he'd done it until he felt the sudden exhaustion after the man left and fell asleep immediately when he'd expected to lie awake worrying about the man returning. He also slept late the next morning, and Spencer had trouble waking him when he dropped by on his way to school.

"Harry, Harry wake up? Are you okay?" Spencer said shaking him lightly.

"I'm tired," Harry said sitting up slowly. "There was a man in the outer room last night and I think I must have used my powers to make him leave because I should have been afraid to go to sleep but I couldn't stay awake and I feel like I did after healing you."

"So you did whatever it was you do, without even realising it. It's possible you do it more often than you think as home too," Spencer speculated.

"No I may not have realised it at the time but I recognised the after effects, tiredness, excessive sleep then ravenous hunger. I would've noticed that happening at home," Harry replied.

Then we need to get you something to eat," Spencer said.

"You're not going to ask if I hurt the man?" Harry asked surprised.

"I know you wouldn't have hurt him deliberately," Spencer replied. "And you said you made him leave, not that you hurt him, he's not lying out there dead or unconscious and there's no sign of blood so you can't have hurt him too badly if that makes you feel better."

"No, I don't think I hurt him, all of a sudden he seemed frightened and turned and ran out of the room. He barely fit through the tunnel but he scrambled desperately through and fell out the other end, he might have hurt himself," Harry said.

"It can't have been too serious if he did. I didn't see any blood out there either. Let's get you fed. Are you up to coming with me or do you want me to bring something back?" Spencer said.

"I can do it. You need to get to school on time. If you turn up looking like you've been scavenging in the bins you'll get picked on for sure," Harry said.

"I'll probably be bullied regardless," Spencer admitted blushing.

"Yeah, but there's no reason to give them extra reasons to," Harry said placing a supportive hand on Spencer's shoulder. "Go on to class Spencer, I'll sleep some more then find myself some lunch. I'll see you after school."

"Okay Harry," Spencer said handing over his packed lunch. "Here, I'll eat lunch in the cafeteria today." Ignoring Harry's protests he hurried away before Harry could give the lunch back. Harry knew what a sacrifice it was for Spencer to have to give up his researching time to go to the cafeteria and risk being publicly humiliated.

-o0o-

They spent the rest of the week, talking, playing cards and reading. Harry worked his way through quite a few of Spencer's books while Spencer was at school and while he didn't understand all of them they did have an influence on his way of thinking and seeing the world. He resolved to keep trying to read nonfiction books and literary classics when he returned home instead of the children's adventure books he'd mostly read before. He also was beginning to manage to count cards in a single pack and that extra observation skill increased the speed of his reading and his retention of what he'd read, though he'd never manage to match Spencer at that. They talked about just about everything, not just the positive stuff like what Spencer wanted to study in college and the history of Caltech and Harry's hopes of getting an apprenticeship as a chef as soon as he was old enough, but also the deep dark secrets they wouldn't have shared with anyone else, the feelings Spencer had when his father left, the loneliness Harry felt locked in his cupboard listening to the Dursley's read Dudley stories and tuck him in, the vague nightmares of green light, Spencer's fear of the dark. The anger and resentment they both felt when their teachers ignored the blatant bullying happening even in their classrooms in front of them at times. Spencer tried to explain to Harry exactly what schizophrenia really was and how it was hard because other people, even adults didn't seem to properly understand it, and were afraid of it even when there was no reason to be, and told him about the hurt he felt during the times his mother refused to believe that he was her son, and the fear when she thought he was there to hurt her. Not just the fear that she would hurt him like she did with the cooking oil but also the fear he had for her that she would realise that she'd attacked him and feel terribly guilty about it or that she would eventually do something he couldn't hide from his teachers or the neighbours and would be locked up in a state mental facility where he would be prevented from visiting her until he was an adult.

Harry didn't really understand schizophrenia even after Spencer's explanation but he understood more than enough about people judging you and being mean because they were afraid over something you couldn't help, so he tried to be as supportive as he could and looked it up in the library to try to understand better. It was while reading a book about Schizophrenia in the library to help him support Spencer, that Harry read that it could sometimes be inherited. He hesitated to tell Spencer but in the end he decided that it wasn't right to keep something so important to him from him, and he figured Spencer probably already knew and was worried about getting it. Maybe having Harry to talk to about it might help. Spencer hadn't read that particular book or realised the genetic component, none of the rest of his relatives had had it after all. It worried him but Harry tried to reassure him that the risks were still fairly low and even if he did end up with it with treatments improving all the time there might be a cure for it, by the time he developed the symptoms. Spencer researched the issue and found that while many studies agreed that there was a genetic link between sufferers in some cases none of them agreed on the level of increased risk a child of someone with schizophrenia had of developing the disease. There was also another reputable study linking the development of schizophrenia in adults to the amount of childhood trauma they'd experienced, suggesting that it was possible that growing up in the care of a schizophrenic parent contributed to the increased incidence of schizophrenia instead of or in addition to the genetic component.

That didn't stop Spencer from deciding then and there that he would never have children. He didn't want to risk one day hurting a child the way his mother hurt him. Harry wasn't sure he wanted children either, not if there was the possibility of them turning out like Dudley, or the possibility that if something happened to him they'd be sent to the Dursleys. He couldn't imagine anyone ever wanting to marry a scrawny freak like him anyway but when he pointed that out to Spencer, Spencer told him that he didn't think Harry was bad looking, he just needed to eat a little more regularly and that there were a lot of ugly people out there who had husbands or wives and children so looks didn't seem to be the deciding factor.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

The next couple of days passed Contentedly and without excitement, Harry didn't see anything of the Dursleys and the bullies left Spencer alone for once. Spencer had school and visited on his way in the morning when he could get away early enough and on his way home for a while before going to look after his mother. In spite of his great joy in having a friend, Spencer was feeling a little guilty how much time he was spending at the hideout instead of home with his Mom. She didn't seem to notice how often he was gone or the changes in their routine that came about because Spencer arrived home to begin cleaning her up and cooking dinner much later than normal, which only made him feel worse, he was reading much less too, though that didn't matter, his schoolwork wasn't suffering as he already knew all about most of the things they were studying in class. Still he couldn't stay away, having a friend like Harry who didn't have an ulterior motive was such a novel experience and he basked in the company of a peer who didn't want anything from him except his company and accepted Spencer as he was and was always happy to listen to him geek out even though he didn't always understand what Spencer was talking about.

Harry loved listening to Spencer talk enthusiastically about things and when he didn't understand he jotted the concepts down and researched them without asking for help, when they were in the library. Spencer was impressed the way Harry didn't complain when Spencer's rambling went over his head and how he remembered conversations and researched things so he could participate more in Spencer's life, and how his research frequently led the younger boy on tangents like his own did and he took his own turn at excitedly sharing the things he'd leaned. Spencer also liked to listen to Harry's point of view about things too as a bright but normal British schoolboy. He'd lost touch with the children his own age in his neighbourhood as he'd moved up classes and dropped out of sports when his father left, not that he was any good at them before that but his father had insisted that he spend some time trying to be a normal boy with kids his own age. For the first time Spencer wondered whether wanting him to experience a friendship like this one with Harry was the reason his father pushed him so hard into interacting with a wide range of children, or whether as Spencer had always assumed he just wanted a son that was more normal or who liked the same things that he liked as a kid. But if he'd wanted his son to make friends, then surely he would have been better off pushing Spencer into activities he was interested in instead of sports that Spencer didn't have the co-ordination to do well at. The problem was that those thoughts led to Spencer wondering why his father had refused to take him with him when he left and whether he ever regretted not keeping in contact with him and after a moment's melancholy he resolutely pushed all thoughts of his father away again.

-o0o-

Spencer came limping into the hideout late Thursday afternoon. Harry had been out in a secluded part of the yard waiting for his friend and making another attempt at reading the end of Schindler's list because the light was too dim to read comfortably in the hideout without wasting the batteries in the torch. He wanted to finish it before he left because he wasn't sure he'd be able to find it in the Little Whinging library, or whether the librarian there would let him read such a serious grown up book.

"Spencer what happened?" Harry asked looking up worriedly. "Where are you hurt? Sit down and I'll get the first aid kit."

"No, I need to be out of sight, I don't want them to find me here if they come looking, I don't want to risk losing my safe place," Spencer replied.

"Okay then let me help you inside," Harry said helping him shuffle on his bottom through the tunnel.

"I can't go home like this. Mom will worry. Can you try to heal me again?" Spencer asked.

"I can try but it's never happened because I wanted it to before," Harry said doubtfully.

"I had another thought about why this stuff happened more often while you've been staying here. You've put on weight which means you've been eating more than you get to eat at home at the Dursleys, and you told me that doing it makes you hungry and tired. Maybe the reason you can't make things happen so often at home is because you're always hungry and already tired from the amount of chores they make you do," Spencer said.

Harry thought about it. "You might be right. Do you think that my aunt and uncle are doing it on purpose, not feeding me enough and wearing me out with cleaning and garden work so I won't do freaky things?"

"It's possible, I mean they're horrible people but it wouldn't harm them to feed you properly otherwise," Spencer said thoughtfully.

"Will you try to heal my foot? I don't want to take advantage of you but if you can't I'll have to get to the clinic before it gets too late."

"You're not taking advantage I want to heal you if I can do it. I'll try my best, but we shouldn't have brought you down here. It's going to hurt an awful lot to climb out if this doesn't work," Harry said looking at his friend's foot anxiously. He put both hands around Spencer's foot and started to examine it.

"I think you've broken a couple of bones in your foot. How did this happen?" he asked.

As Spencer described being caught by and trying to fight off the bully from the football team and how the guy had slammed the locker he was trying to put Spencer into on his foot with all his weight, Harry began to get angry that people could do that to his friend and that the teacher's still ignored him limping as they saw him leave, and that emotional response and the desire to heal and protect Spencer caused his hands to heat up and there was a crunching sound as the bones knitted back together. I was lucky that the way Harry had positioned his foot to see the injury had put the bones almost back into alignment and the injury was healed without complications.

Spencer let out a scream and Harry jerked his hands away.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," he said horrified.

"The bones were broken and I've been trying to walk on them so they're probably been moving about getting even more damaged, Harry. Even if I went to the doctor they would've had to hurt me to straighten them before they could plaster my foot, or maybe even had to operate to fixate them with plates and screws and I would've been on crutches and vulnerable for weeks. Instead you healed them, the pain is completely gone. This is so much better," Spencer tried to reassure him, carefully moving his foot to assess whether there was any remaining damage.

"It would take a really low person to try to hurt someone already on crutches," Harry growled.

"Yeah but some of the guys at school have already established that they are that cruel and despicable," Spencer said softly. "I can't give them the satisfaction of knowing they hurt me that badly."

Harry growled again. "The person who did this already knows, unless he's deaf he would have heard the bones break as he slammed the locker on your foot."

"And yet he still finished shoving me in the locker and left me there for the day," Spencer said dryly. "And I have to make an official complaint. Between Mom and days like this I'm in danger of failing some of my subjects due to lack of attendance if I don't."

Harry winced, no good ever came of telling the teachers anything, he'd long since learned that lesson. Those that cared at all were idiotic enough to believe that forcing the bully to apologise would help. Harry couldn't understand how they didn't realise that it only ever made things worse.

"Thanks Harry it feels much better," Spencer said smiling as he stood and walked around the room.

"But if they knew they'd broken your foot and it's fine tomorrow, that might be the sort of thing that gets noticed by whoever monitors this stuff. I don't want them screwing with your memory. That might be why Dudley and his friends are so stupid," Harry said anxiously.

"No, they can't possibly work on rumours and stories like that. How would they tell the difference between an actual occurrence and some kid having an overactive imagination or ghost stories and stuff. They have to have a way of tracking the actual use of the superpower or whatever it is," Spencer said.

"I don't think I can be a hero Spencer. If I could've I would've transferred the broken bones and the rest of the injuries to the git who did this to you, or gone to school with you tomorrow to beat them all up to protect you," Harry said angrily.

"I'd love to have seen his face a minute ago if you had managed that," Spencer said laughing. Harry was relieved he wasn't frightened off by him wanting to use his gift to hurt someone. Of course, Harry figured it might've been because they both thought it was impossible to do. He hadn't injured the bully but unknown to either of them, his intense wish that the older boy wouldn't mention to anyone that he'd broken Spencer's foot and would leave his friend alone had made a difference, the bully would still join in with his friends' bullying but wouldn't think of focusing his own attempts on Spencer. It didn't seem to make much difference to Spencer, he was still bullied almost daily but he never again came home with broken bones, the rest of the football team was more interested in humiliating their targets than seriously injuring them.

-o0o-

Harry was disappointed when he realised that his family was flying home the day before Spencer's birthday and he wouldn't see the older boy for his special day. He'd never celebrated a birthday with anyone and he wanted to have a bit of a birthday party just for the two of them before he left.

He didn't have any money to buy Spencer a cake or a present but he used some blank card he'd found in a bin behind the stationers and the pens and highlighters in the hideout to make him a card, and also found some discarded crepe paper and festooned it up all around their room after Spencer left the night before his last full day in the hideout, then got up super early went out scavenging in the bins behind a couple of bakeries to collect any party type food he could, determined to at least try to make a special meal for the two of them to celebrate the day before he had to leave.

Spencer who hadn't had friends celebrate with him in years, since he stopped playing T-ball, was surprised and delighted. They ate their feast for breakfast, which made Harry feel vaguely ill because he wasn't used to eating so much sugar. Then Harry pushed Spencer off to school, reminding him that he couldn't afford to miss any of the classes with attendance requirements. Spencer hurried back after school and ate the new treats Harry had managed to collect during the day before they spent the rest of the day reading Spencer's favourite book to each other. As a birthday celebration it wasn't much and it would never have satisfied most of the other kids they knew but Spencer thought it was just about perfect and Harry was happy with the joy he saw in his friend's eyes and smiles.

-o0o-

"I wish I didn't have to go, this has been the best thirteen days of my life," Harry said regretfully as he packed up his things.

Spencer came over and hugged him. "I wish you could stay too Harry, if I could take you home and ask Mom to adopt you I would and we could be brothers but it is impossible. Even if Mom understood and accepted you, she wouldn't always remember and we can't afford to draw the attention of CPS like that. Unfortunately, you can't stay here in the hideout, you're pretty much living on the streets here, pretty soon someone will notice and move you on, or the developers will pull down the building and rebuild on the lot, and bad things happen to kids who live on the street," he said. "As horrible as they are you are better off living with your relatives or the foster care system so you can go back to school and I'm going away to college in September I won't be here anyway and I can't take you with me. Even going to the buffets to eat won't work once I'm not here to clean your clothes for you so you don't look homeless, and you can't get adequate nutrition just from the things that are safe to eat out of the dumpsters."

"I'll miss you, I'd offer to write but I'm not sure how often I will be able to. It would be better if you didn't write to me at the Dursleys, they wouldn't let me have the letters anyway and might try to cause trouble for you to stop you writing to me," Harry replied. "I will try to find someone who will receive the letters and pass them on to me without telling the Dursleys but it's going to be difficult, the Dursleys have told everyone that I'm a delinquent."

"That's horrible, but surely someone realises that it's they that are the monsters?" Spencer replied, delighted that his friend wanted to keep in touch but upset about the way the whole town seemed to treat him at home. He also worried that the neighbourhood's erroneous beliefs about Harry also made his friend a lot less safe at the Dursleys than he thought he was.

Harry sighed. "You'd think someone would but everyone seems to believe them, or keeps their mouth shut about it to keep the peace which doesn't do me any good."

"I may not always get your letters either, my Mom has schizophrenia. On a bad day she is likely to get suspicious and tear up all the mail, especially letters from people she doesn't know and with unfamiliar stamps," Spencer admitted, then panicked that Harry would think he was telling him not to write to him. "It is worth trying though, she is less likely to tear up hand written envelopes, especially with kids writing. No offence intended. But please don't think I've forgotten you if I don't reply and keep trying until I do. Eventually I'll get to the mail first or she'll be having a good day and a letter will get through to me."

Harry nodded understandingly. "We can try anyway! Some of our letters might get through. I'll make sure to print the addresses." He desperately wanted to keep in contact with his only friend.

Spencer nodded, "It will be easier for you to send me letters once I move to college in September as long as I can get the address to you," he agreed hopefully.

Spencer helped Harry get his bag back up the pipe entrance they used into the hideout and they parted ways both hurrying off to avoid looking back and making things harder.

-o0o-

Harry thought hard about who he could trust would pass the letters on to him without telling the Dursleys but couldn't think of anyone. To begin with he thought that Mrs Figg who looked after him when the Dursleys went away might, but something told him not to trust her. He knew she had patched him up after a particularly nasty beating or two, and her horrid tasting tea seemed to make him feel better the way she said it would, she always tried to feed him up when she was looking after him as if she knew he wasn't fed properly at home but she'd never done anything about it other than patch him up a bit and send him back. She never contacted the authorities even though she was one of the few people who got close enough to have had proof of his mistreatment as a toddler before the whole neighbourhood was turned against him by the Dursley's lies. Think ing back critically over his time with her, he got the impression of dishonesty about her, there was something she was lying to him about and he didn't like it. The problem was he couldn't think of anyone else that would do it either, except maybe one of the librarians in the Little Whinging Public Library who'd always been nicer to him than the other librarians, and didn't watch him with suspicion whenever he pulled a book from their shelves. He wondered whether she'd be allowed to do it for him. He also worried about that solution because every time he'd heard her talking to her friends it was about leaving Little Whinging or living in London, but at least it would help for a while and hopefully if she did leave he could find someone else.

-o0o-

Petunia and Vernon had enjoyed their holiday tremendously. Their favourite part had been the all you can eat buffet meals, though for different reasons. Petunia had enjoyed learning about new American foods she could serve to impress her garden club, and the break from having to purchase and cook meals and endless snacks for her husband and son. Vernon had loved the value for money element which prevented him from feeling guilty about the amount he ate. His biggest complaint about the restaurants they went to at home was the fact he had to order several entrees along with his main meal and desert to feel like he'd had a decent feed which since he had to order that much for Dudley as well meant that most restaurants charged them an exorbitant amount to eat there, and the buffets were all so cheap here. Dudley had adored the fact that he could choose whatever he liked to eat and his parents wouldn't say anything, even if he only ate deserts and that there was such a huge range of sweets, pastries and cakes to choose from, though funnily enough the last couple of days he'd been wanting to eat the chips, chicken wings and pizza more than the sweets and cakes.

Other than the food Dudley had to admit he hadn't enjoyed the holiday as much as he thought he would. His new friends had pretty much abandoned him when he refused to be part of stealing a car, and he found that he missed having his cousin around to torment. The first couple of days after Vernon had kicked Harry out, Dudley had gloried in his parents undivided attention, not realising that he had always had it, but then he noticed that nothing had really changed and he was still being left in the casino kid's clubs that his parents knew he hated, where he wasn't even allowed to take out his frustration on the younger children and Harry wasn't there to take his frustrations out on afterwards either. He'd loved the Marvel's Avengers Station and wanted to go back there but his parents had refused. The superpowers of the Avengers was a little too close to magic for Petunia.

Vernon had also lost a little more money in the casinos than he was comfortable admitting to his wife so was glad that the holiday was over before Petunia realised that he was out of money until payday next week and this was making him more short tempered than usual with Dudley's whining for more gifts and sweets he could ill afford.

Petunia had found the best part of the holiday was as always not having Harry around and was glad that Vernon had kicked him out for the rest of their time there after he'd gone missing overnight, even though she wasn't able to relax as thoroughly as she normally did on holiday when they left him with Mrs Figg. She was more than a little concerned that the hotel would notice the absence of the freak and call the authorities. Apart from that niggling worry, she enjoyed the shows at the casinos but found actual gambling to be quite boring and had missed being able to show other people how normal and upper middle class she was. Nobody in Las Vegas seemed to care a thing about normal. In fact, most of them seemed to glory in being as unnormal and unique as they could be, and she saw glimpses of things she couldn't believe were achieved without magic nearly everywhere they'd been. She couldn't wait to get back to Little Whinging and their 'perfectly normal' everyday life.

-o0o-

Vernon and Dudley definitely weren't pleased that Harry returned to the hotel about an hour before their car to the airport, Petunia didn't want him back either but she was also relieved he'd turned up, she'd begun to worry how they'd explain the disappearance of a child that had been travelling with them. If they were arrested for child abandonment then her precious Dudley might be sent to foster care until Marge could get to Las Vegas and collect him. who knew what terrible things could happen to a fine boy like Dudley in that time.

Harry carefully stayed out of Vernon's reach as he helped carry their bags down to join his own, and stayed with them within sight of the hotel staff while the rest of the family did whatever they were doing in the hotel room. Dudley was probably watching the television while Petunia was compulsively checking and rechecking the cupboards, drawers and under the bed to make sure nothing had been left behind. Harry wondered if she'd manage to blame him this time if something was lost.

Their ride arrived and Harry helped the driver load the bags. "Thanks lad, have you enjoyed your stay in Vegas? Where you off to next?"

"It's been brilliant, the best three weeks of my life," Harry said enthusiastically. "I wish I didn't have to go home."

The driver smiled, he didn't usually get that reaction from children, Vegas was a holiday destination designed for adults and most kids wanted to go to California or Florida to the beach and the theme parks. Dudley came down and the driver asked the same question and was astonished to hear him complain about having had a horrible time, compared to his cousin. The adults came out and ordered Harry into the front seat with the driver before they climbed in the back and engaged the privacy screen without giving the driver instruction on which part of the airport they wanted to be taken to.

The driver shook his head in annoyance as he began driving them to the airport. Do you know where you need to go?" he asked.

"The airport," Harry said confused why the driver didn't know that.

"Where in the airport, it's too big for me to drop you at the nearest entrance and hope you find your way to the right gate on time," the driver replied.

"I don't know but we're flying back to England, does that help?" Harry asked.

"If you're flying directly it does. What airline did you fly here on?" the driver asked.

"British Airways, Uncle Vernon wouldn't trust anyone else, we flew directly here when we came but I haven't seen the tickets," Harry replied.

"British Airways departures it is. Unless you want to knock on the window again and ask your Uncle," the driver said. Harry turned and knocked but the privacy screen remained up.

Luckily it seemed that it was the right place since nobody complained, and Harry was able to relax again as he pushed the luggage trolley and Vernon checked them in while Dudley whined about not being able to wait in the restaurant instead of in line. The flight home was unremarkable, they'd visited the buffet at the airport and while Vernon grumbled about having to buy Harry a plate before the waitress would let them in, Dudley proceeded to eat himself almost into a food coma and fell asleep as soon as he was strapped into his seat on the plane, leaving Harry in peace until just before landing.

The drive back to Little Whinging was uncomfortable, the Dursleys were all tired and ill tempered, and Harry tried to avoid their notice as much as possible. Of course, even in a luxury car there wasn't really enough room to get away from them and he spent the time huddled against the door hoping that he wouldn't be beaten too badly when they arrived home. He wasn't looking forward to going back to his cupboard after the light, comfort and freedom of the hideout. Spencer had given him his torch, though Spencer had called it a flashlight, and some extra batteries to help him cope with the darkness and to allow him to read and a couple of books and a deck of cards to practice his card counting for when he was locked in all day in punishment. He knew what a huge sacrifice giving up the torch was for Spencer and was incredibly grateful. Hopefully he would be allowed to put his bag away without Aunt Petunia trying to go through it to make sure he didn't have anything he shouldn't.

He was in luck, Dudley started whining about being hungry about half way home in spite of a snack at the airport and as soon as the bags were in the front entryway the Dursleys went out to eat, ordering Harry to carry the bags up to the appropriate rooms then take himself to bed. Harry quickly put his bag in his cupboard before opening Dudleys and taking the dirty clothes to the laundry to begin washing it to make his bags lighter. He wished he could do that with his Aunt and Uncle's bags but didn't dare go through them. He did take the opportunity to go through the cupboards and relocate some long life snacks into the darkness under the lowest stairs so that he would still have something to eat when they Dursleys next deprived him of food. Unfortunately there wasn't much he could make for his dinner without risking Petunia smelling it if he defrosted or cooked anything, but he ate some cereal with the powdered milk Petunia used for cooking and some apples from the tree that hung over the fence from number two's back garden, stashing several more away for later. He enjoyed his food but missed his friend something fierce and after a couple of hours lying on his mattress with the door open for light he noticed that the something inside him that expanded when he did impossible things felt like it was slowly growing smaller and weaker and wondered why. He vowed to pay attention to what happened to it while he was out at school the next day.

-o0o-

At school on the Monday the teachers and students ignored him, it was almost as if he wasn't there. But on the Tuesday, they were all interested in listening to the stories of Dudley's holiday and the things he had done and learned. Even Harry was interested, wondering about what Dudley had don't other than eat enormous amounts of sweets. The few teachers that asked Harry were disappointed that he didn't have anything to say about his weeks away. Sitting quietly allowed Harry to concentrate on that feeling he got before anything impossible happened and he realised that it felt like it was slowly growing stronger throughout the day, until he arrived back to No. 4 Privet Drive when it started to shrink or leave again. He wanted to tell Spencer about it and see what he thought which made him think about who he could ask to receive letters for him. He saw Mrs Figg on the way home from school and he noticed the way she looked at him curiously as he walked past. He said hello to her and answered politely when she asked him about his holiday, but he had a feeling that she was relieved when he spoke of being left behind in the motel room while his relatives went out, and he hesitated to mention Spencer. He wondered how he was going to find someone else willing to let Spencer send letters for him to collect without telling anyone. He also thought again about running away or going to the police or the hospital and asking to be put into foster care but he was still too afraid of the stories he'd heard to take that step. He figured that it wasn't something he needed to decide to do now, he could always go later and might be taken more seriously if he waited until after Vernon beat him next time and he had injuries to present as evidence.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Friday 3/11/89**_

_**Dear Spencer,**_

_**Happy birthday again. I hope you had a good day.**_

_**We arrived home a week ago and returned to school. Dudley got to have an extra day off to get over his jetlag but I got sent straight back, it didn't matter I was over the jetlag anyway.**_

_**Nothing has changed here on Privet Drive or at school, it's almost like being in Vegas never happened and yet I feel differently about everything, like I'm seeing things more clearly. The Dursleys haven't threatened to kick me out again. They can't, they're too afraid of what would happen, what people would say if I suddenly went missing, or worse began sleeping in alleys around town and were seen scrounging in the bins for food. I thought about reporting the abuse to the police but I haven't made a decision yet. I realized one thing though, there is no way that the teachers and my babysitter aren't aware of my frequent injuries. I have visible bruises on my face and arms several times each term. Shouldn't one of them reported it, or the school nurse who I've had to visit several times when cuts have reopened while I'm at school or to get burns properly redressed when they started to leak through the inadequate dressings I've put on them. I wonder why nobody ever did? Surely the Dursleys can't have paid them off or something?**_

_**The flight home was fun, I sat in an empty seat in the row behind the Dursleys and they ignored me the whole way home and slept most of it. I got to eat all the food the airline gave me, and watch several movies.**_

_**I'm missing having a friend, and missing you in particular, none of the kids here is as brilliant as you are not just your intelligence but they're nowhere near as kind and generous or as interesting and brave. Nobody at school willingly talks to me, they're too afraid Dudley will bash them if he sees them being nice to me. The teacher's look at me with distain, I know it's my fault because I didn't do the homework they gave me. But how is it that not one of them realizes that Dudley does so much better with his homework than he does in class and his homework is never in his handwriting. It should be obvious that he's cheating somehow. The fat lump doesn't even bother to copy the work into his own handwriting and they don't notice or maybe they just don't care.**_

_**I miss our hideout. I wish I had a place like that here, but it wouldn't be the same without you to come and visit me in it. Still I've started looking around for a place like the hide out that I know Dudley won't be able to get to me in, just in case I get kicked out again. I hope it doesn't happen though, it's too cold here to live outside of a proper house in the winter. My cupboard is cold enough.**_

_**I haven't had anything strange happen around me since I healed your foot, and it doesn't feel like it's going to the way it did in Las Vegas. I wasn't imagining the change. I still don't know if it was being in America or your acceptance of what was happening or my instinctual fear of the Dursleys noticing something happening that made the difference but whatever it is I can feel it less here. Normally when I do something I can feel a build up of something inside me not really in any particular part of me but sort of centred in my chest and sort of not. I'm sorry, I can't explain it any clearer than that. Even when I'm not doing anything I realised while I was in Las Vegas that I could feel it sitting there waiting to be used and it used to build up sometimes stronger than other times. When it built up enough something would happen out of my control but when I was trying to make something happen it didn't seem to need to be so big. Since I've been home I've been concentrating on how that feels, trying to see if there's a reason I could do more in America, and I've noticed that it doesn't seem as strong here. The funny thing is, I can feel whatever it is getting weaker the longer I spend in the house and slowly growing again while I'm out all day. It never seems to reach the level I felt it at in America but I was a lot further away from the house and for a lot longer. It's not being in Britain it's specifically being at the Dursley's house that makes the difference. I wonder why?**_

_**I've sent you an address you can write to, as you can see it's a restaurant. I got caught trying to steal food from their bins one day after Dudley tripped me while I was carrying the pan of eggs and they went all over the floor so the Dursleys refused to let me have any food for the rest of the weekend. Anyway, instead of turning me into the police the kitchen manager has started keeping the better leftovers and scraps for me to eat, she keeps them in the fridge so even the things with meat or cream in them are still safe and good. It's not far from my school and I manage to sneak over there on my way home most days so I'm getting fed much better now and it's good clean, healthy food. She said she's happy to keep letters for me. I think she thinks I'm a street kid so I feel a bit guilty about her kindness and I hope that she isn't too angry with me if she finds out the truth. Though maybe she already knows since I always turn up after school lets out and don't have time to hang around after she feeds me, because I have to hurry home to do my chores before Vernon gets home. Anyway, she's happy to keep letters for me and for me to eat her scraps and left overs. She's a great cook even her scraps taste better than anything Petunia or me can cook and I never feel sick from her food. **_

_**I hope your Mom is well and the bullies are leaving you alone.**_

_**Your Friend **_

_**Harry.**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_ Saturday 11/11/89_

_Dear Harry,_

_I was so glad to get your letter, Mom was fine with seeing the envelope for me too. I told her about you, that you are a pen friend from England, I think she got the impression that this is a school assignment and that we haven't met but she was happy with the prospect of me making an epistolary friend, and told me about several friends she used to write to regularly. It sounded like she wrote to them right up until she became too ill to work. I wonder what happened to them and why they haven't tried to keep in contact?_

_I had the best birthday ever because I got to spend it with a friend in spite of having to celebrate two days early to do so. My actual birthday was great too, one of the best I can remember. Mom had a good day, and she remembered that it was my birthday, though she hadn't managed to buy me a present ahead of time she had baked a cake which we ate for breakfast and then she took me out shopping and I got some new clothes and books, and we went to Binion's for lunch. I couldn't take you there, they know me and my family too well to let me in without Mom, but they're the best place for seafood ad Mom's all-time favorite place to eat. Their chicken fried lobster is my and Mom's all-time favorite meals. I didn't hear from Dad yet again, but I didn't really expect to. I wonder if he even remembered it was my birthday or if he knew and still decided not to contact me._

_Mom's new medication seems to be working and she's had more good days than bad days in the past two weeks. Things are looking up at home and I haven't needed the hideout as a safe place since you left. I haven't spent much time there actually, it isn't the same without you, it feels like something is missing and I can't settle. I miss having you to talk to on my way to and from school. It was nice to have someone with whom I could be totally myself without worrying how you would react._

_I'm glad you got home safely and that the Dursleys aren't being too horrible. I can't believe I wrote that, they aren't just horrible they're abusive and criminal in their behavior to you, I didn't mean to minimize their behavior in any way. I hope that you're not injured and that you're right in believing that being home where the neighbors know you will stop them from going too far. But Harry, remember what I said about the Nazi's and the Jews. By giving you such a bad reputation in the neighborhood the Dursleys make you seem less human to the neighbors and make their mistreatment of you seem more reasonable or deserved. You're right that your teachers and the school nurse should have reported your injuries. In fact, I think they are mandated by law to report any sign of abuse in the children under their care. I don't know why they haven't, what is stopping them, it worries me. Please Harry, you can't depend on the Dursleys always being more afraid of what the neighbors might think, than they're angry at you. You've said that they let you go to school with visible bruises so they don't care if people see you're hurt. I still think you ought to go to the police of course but I'm not going to nag about it any further. It is your decision even if I don't understand the choice you're making. _

_I'm glad that you've found an alternate source of food than the Dursleys and that you met someone you could trust enough to tell them about the letters. You shouldn't feel guilty about the help your getting from the people at the restaurant, you really do need the extra food they give you. Just because you're not sleeping on the street doesn't mean you're not malnourished and frequently starving, requiring assistance or deserving of being helped. I'm so glad that you've found someone to assist you not just with receiving letters so we can keep in touch but now you have someone to turn to. Someone other than me that cares about you getting enough to eat and someone who will hopefully notice and do something about it if you're locked in and disappear for weeks, or turn up with unexplainable injuries._

_School continues just the same. Nothing at all interesting has happened here since you left other than the day out with Mom. On the plus side I haven't been injured at home or at school since you last healed me and I'm feeling great. My classes and the homework assignments are boring, they even seem to bore most of the teachers. I'm sure if I got a hold of the assignments from years ago they'd be exactly the same and I wonder how the teachers can stand to teach and grade the same things year after year, it's bad enough having to sit through it the first time and it makes It easier for those who want to cheat. I wish I could just test out of the rest of the year and spend my time in self study but the idiot of a guidance counsellor insists that being in class is essential and teaches more than just the subject on the syllabus, but I don't see what, other than how to dodge and hide from bullies, how to be hurt and avoid showing that their cruelty upsets you, and perhaps that those who are suppose to look out for you cannot be relied on. Not the lessons she had in mind, I'm sure._

_I've been learning to read Russian. Mom had several translations of Russian classics that I loved but she always said it's better to read things in the language they were written in. At least that's the excuse she gave for teaching me to read French and Latin years ago. But she doesn't read Russian so she can't help me, and it has its own alphabet so it's slow going. Still it's keeping my brain occupied. _

_Your friend _

_Spencer._

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Wednesday 22/10/89**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**I'm glad to hear you had a good birthday with your mum, and got to go out for a proper dinner. I can't imagine a better buffet meal than the ones we had. Of course, other than Petunia's cooking and my own I haven't had much experience with different foods. Is the food really that much better or is it that food tastes better when you know you've paid for it? Or is it better because you're with your mum, and you know she loves it? As for having to go out and buy the presents with your mum on the day, Dudley loves it when he can talk Vernon and Petunia into taking him to buy extra presents on his birthday. At least you got to choose things you really wanted that way, but I guess since it's normally you that pays the bills and does the budgets and you know that you didn't have much extra money to spend, you probably didn't get everything you wanted, only the things you really needed and some cheap books you thought you could afford and could share with your mum. I'd bet even if she had brought you something really expensive you would have tried to return it if you thought she wouldn't notice. Still shopping with your mum sounds like you both had a really good day, and hopefully you got at least some presents that you like. I'm sorry I couldn't buy you anything.**_

_**Don't you think it's a bit hypocritical for you to be encouraging me to go to the police and have myself put into foster care while you're working so hard to stop- it happening to you. I know why you say it's different because the Dursleys abuse and neglect me on purpose and your mother never means to hurt you but the end result is the same Spencer, you're in as much danger as me and I'm worried about you just as much as you worry about me. I understand you wanting to stay with your Mum, I know she loves you. Please understand that I think this is best for me too, I'll be okay. I'm still eating well thanks to my friend in the restaurant and I'm not quite as scrawny as I was. I think I've even grown a little. I've been reading in the library, I'm in awe of you teaching yourself to read a new language, I still come across English words I don't know but I am understanding more of what I read and classes seem much easier than they did before. I still can't let my results improve but I'm now learning all that I can. **_

_**The Dursleys aren't being any more horrible than they normally were before we came to Las Vegas. Dudley and his gang still try to catch me unawares in the playground and on my way to and from school. For some reason they haven't noticed yet that I'm going out the other gate and to the restaurant on my way home. They haven't managed to find or follow me there at any rate. The crossing lady on the other gate doesn't know me or Dudley so I don't think he'd get way with chasing me across the road like he does on our direct way home. Petunia, I won't call her Aunt in my letters to you because we both know she doesn't want to be related to me any more than I want to be related to her. Petunia has had me doing all the cooking since we got back. I'm enjoying it, she's shown me some new things I couldn't do before and has been quite patient explaining things. And she's letting me taste stuff so I can tell when it's right. I guess she realized being away for three weeks how nice it was not to cook every night. Mostly she leaves me to it and I manage to snack on the raw veggies as I cook, I don't know whether she doesn't notice or doesn't mind me doing it because Dudley and Vernon aren't fond of vegetables anyway, but I haven't been in trouble for it yet.**_

_**My school is pretty boring too. Partly because we're learning measurements in math at the moment and I learnt them years ago in cooking, and the teacher is reading us Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan which I read before we went on Holiday. It's okay I guess but she only reads a couple of pages a day when we've been good and got all our work done. Even the science experiments lately have been about heating things up and using steam. **_

_**How is your Mum? And how is school? Are you looking forward to Christmas? I miss you Spencer? My new friends at the restaurant are nice and it's my new safe place which is good to have, but it isn't the same as the hideout. I still have to be on my best behaviour all the time and be careful not to wear out my welcome there. Like I said they're nice to me but they're all grown-ups and they ask grown up questions not 'I want to be your friend' questions, and I can see that they're being nice because they feel sorry for me more than because they like me. I miss having you to talk to and just be my friend without pitying me. And I miss hearing you talk about things, I used to learn so many new ways of looking at stuff listening to you and you made everything sound so interesting. You'd think that would be a skill that teachers would have but most of them don't. I guess you have to be interested in stuff to make it sound interesting. Most of all I miss having someone that I can just be Harry with, who doesn't look down on me if I say something stupid or I'm scared or sad. I miss you Spencer.**_

_**Your Friend**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT** give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_ Thursday 12/7/89_

_Dear Harry_

_I don't think I am being hypocritical in worrying about your safety more than mine, my mother loves me as much as I love her, and she never means to hurt me. Your relatives take pleasure in hurting you and I'm absolutely sure they don't care about you. I'm sorry if I hurt you with that statement, I really don't mean to, but it's true Harry. If I went onto foster care my mother would be heartbroken by the loss, the only loss your relatives would feel would be in having to do the chores themselves, and possibly financially if they're being paid to look after you and whoever was paying them found out that you weren't there and stopped paying them. _

_Also, if I went into foster care I couldn't go to Caltech until I turned eighteen and I don't know that the universities in Las Vegas would be very good for me. A. it's too late to apply for a lot of scholarships and I can't afford to go to college without a full ride scholarship. B. they don't have the science programs I want to do though their math classes are quite advanced and C. a lot of the classmates from high school will be there so I wouldn't get away from the bullying. In fact, if they placed me in a foster home outside of this school district, I'd have to change high schools this semester and I might not even be allowed to graduate this year and have to spend another year or more in the hell that is high school for me. _

_If you went into foster care you would probably need to change schools which would be good for you, to get away from Dudley and let you be yourself and get the best grades that you're capable of instead of having to hold yourself back to his level, and have teachers that hadn't already been poisoned in their opinions of you by the Dursleys' lies and your history of deliberately underperforming. It might be the best thing that could happen to you._

_The other thing that makes me worried about you and not myself is what will happen in the future. Things aren't getting worse with me and Mom. She has more bad days or less bad days depending on how well she's medicated so it's possible she will have more bad days as time goes by until her medication is sorted out again, but she isn't growing bigger and stronger like Dudley and even on her bad days she isn't any more violent than she has been for several years now, it's still pretty rare that she hurts me. It was just my good luck that last time it happened was while you were there to look after me, though I am sorry that it has made you worry. You admitted that you get hurt far more often and the way they treat you is getting worse. _

_I know you told me that their fear of what the neighbors will think will protect you, but I don't think that their fear is as strong as you think it is, or I think that they will convinced themselves that the neighbors don't notice or agree with them that you're not normal and it's therefore okay for them to treat you badly. You're already having to eat out of dumpsters and rely on your new friends at the restaurant to keep their food scraps for you to be fed decently because the Dursleys aren't doing it, and the neighbors don't seem to notice or care that Dudley has decent clothing and you're dressed in little better than rags. I dread to think what would happen if the Dursleys or their neighbors found out you were dumpster diving or had told the restaurant that you weren't being properly fed. Please be careful._

_I miss having you here, it was nice having a friend to talk to and a place to go where there was someone to care when I had to leave the house because Mom was having a bad day and didn't know me. I miss hearing your opinions on things and seeing the joy you had in learning new things like I do._

_As much as I miss you, though, I'm kind of glad now that you didn't stay, we've had a record cold snap and a few nights lately have been well below freezing, the meteorologists say we're going to have a colder than usual winter. Much too cold to be living in a drafty abandoned building. I would worry every time I visited that I'd find you sick from the cold or worse and while I know you used your power to start a fire and keep you warm one night you couldn't do it all the time without totally exhausting yourself and making yourself ill. I know that there are street people who live in the major cities in the north of the country and even some in Canada but there are always some who don't survive the winter every year, and you being so small and thin would be in danger even here. Not to mention all the other dangers that can befall a child without someone to look out for them._

_School continues as per normal, it's a nuisance that it's too cold outside for people to sit and eat because there isn't room enough for everyone indoors, one good thing about it is that it doesn't give the bullies the opportunity to catch me alone, I'm always surrounded and I don't think that they've realised yet that I'm surrounded by people who wouldn't do anything if one of us was attacked. Particularly if it were me, a lot of the other geeks, people who should be my friends because we have things in common, don't like being beaten out for top spot in class. They'd just put their heads down and hope to avoid notice, glad that it wasn't them this time. I really cannot complain, I'd probably do the same if one of them was targeted. Still for the time being the crowds in the halls everywhere and us geeks keeping together is a deterrent, and we are all taking as much advantage of it as possible._

_I'm making slow progress with learning Russian, and it is starting to frustrate me a little. My brain keeps trying to read the letters in English, and confusing me._

_Mom is doing pretty well for this time of year. I know they say depression is seasonal and the reduced access to sunlight makes it worse, there's no proven correlation with sunlight and schizophrenia but she does always seem better in the warmer months of the year. Thank goodness we live in Nevada where it's sunny all the time even when it isn't that warm. There's a greater tendency for her to remain snuggled up in bed all day when it's cold and we can't afford to run the heater all day every day for the next three months. I can't blame her for not wanting to get out, I try to get her to rug up and come for a walk with me but it is difficult._

_Your friend_

_Spencer_

A/N: To clear up any confusion. Spencer is American and he writes dates the American way M/D/Y.

Harry is British and writes his dates the British way D/M/Y. Therefore, Spencer's letter the 10/11/89 was before not after Harry's reply 22/10/98.

A/N2: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story. I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_** Wednesday 20/12/89**_

_**Dear Spencer,**_

_**Merry Christmas. This is the last day of term for us and I'm writing in the library so I can send it on my way home. It's cold here now too. Too cold to sit or stand still in the yard but most of the kids still prefer to go out and run around, so the library still isn't crowded. I probably would too if I knew Dudley and his gang would leave me alone and I had warm waterproof shoes.**_

_**I expect that Petunia will have me too busy getting the house and everything ready for Christmas to get out until the 25**__**th**__**. She's still complaining to me about being behind on her preparations because of our holiday which is stupid because we got home nearly eight weeks ago and she hasn't done anything, she's been too busy with her garden club and stuff.**_

_**Dudley wrote his one letter for the year last week. To Santa. That was late, he normally Petunia has him write it at the start of December but this time it was a school assignment, so I guess she's behind in doing his shopping even if she wasn't with anything else and that's probably stressful because not having the things Dudley wants under the tree will ruin their Christmas. It's basically a demand for all the latest toys and electronic games, he wants another replacement for his Sega Video Game console that he broke when he lost a game a couple of months ago. Hopefully they'll soon make one that's harder to break. Petunia was really impressed that he said please so I'm sure he will get every single thing on the list. I didn't tell her that the teacher made him. I had to write a letter too. I wanted to spend the time writing to you because writing to Santa is stupid, well stupid for orphans like me but the teacher was grading the letters which meant that I couldn't even be honest about the list. If I was being honest the only things on it would've been for another relative to come and take me away from the Dursleys, with a very good reason why they hadn't been able to come before this and to spend the Christmas Holidays in Las Vegas with you. I was careful to throw the letter in the bin on my way home though, just having brought it into the house would have earned me a beating and ridicule for forgetting that 'freaks like me don't deserve Santa to come to them.' As if I'm not old enough to understand that it's just them laying out the gifts for Dudley. **_

_**I have to admit that I was ever so relieved when I found that out. Dudley's friend Malcolm told me last year, hoping to make me cry. He looked so confused when I didn't react. To me it was the first indication that it wasn't the whole universe who hated me. I never could understand how Dudley could be good enough for Santa to leave him gifts and I wasn't, though the year before I found out I thought that maybe I was being left gifts and the Dursleys just gave them to Dudley anyway and that if so Santa was stupid not to notice and give the gifts to me in my cupboard where the Dursleys couldn't see them. I doubt Dudley still believes in Santa either but he pretends he does because that way he can throw a tantrum if Santa doesn't bring everything on his list and his parents don't buy him at least half a dozen other presents as well.**_

_**Anyway, the Christmas cake, the Christmas pudding, and the mince pies, shortbread and gingerbread still need to be made so I'll be doing that tomorrow. I hope the pudding has time to mature properly and tastes okay we normally do make it during the October term break when I was with you, and Petunia will think that I've totally ruined Christmas if it isn't good. The rest of the things would've been made this week anyway though because when she tried to make them earlier she just had to make them all again and again anyway.**_

_**I had a look in one of the few Russian books in the town library it looks impossibly complicated. Are you trying to learn to speak Russian or just to read it? If you're trying to speak it then maybe one of those taped lesson series so you can read along as you hear the words might help. Even if you're not trying to speak it listening as you read might help you to sort out the letters. I met a gentleman in the library who said he thought that was the only way to learn a language short of moving to the country for six months to a small town where nobody speaks much English and you need to learn to communicate to eat. But I suppose you cannot drag your mother through the Russian countryside just to learn to read Russian classics in their original language.**_

_**I have been working on trying to use my power every day so it doesn't build up to the point that I lose control of it and so far it seems to be working, I haven't even felt it come close to the level that it will do something without me concentrating really hard to do it. I make light at night to read by and started trying to move things about quietly. Recently I've been trying to use it to undo the lock on the outside of my bedroom door and relock it, and I finally succeeded. The other day when I was alone in the house I managed to oil the lock and hinges to my bedroom too so now at night I can unlock the door and sneak out to get food if they haven't given me enough at dinner. Nobody notices it missing, or if Petunia does, she thinks that Vernon or Dudley must have eaten it and there's no point asking them about it. I take care to always take the same things that they'd take.**_

_**I hope you and your mum have a merry Christmas. Do you still pretend to believe in Santa for your mum or is she fine with you knowing he isn't real? Are there any American traditions that I don't know about? What's your favourite part of Christmas?**_

_**Your friend **_

_**Harry.**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_ Saturday 1/6/90_

_Dear Harry_

_Mom and I don't really celebrate Christmas, there were no gifts from Santa or otherwise and we don't have a tree or any special foods, but I enjoyed the two weeks off school. We stayed in and read and played chess with each other. I'm starting to beat Mom at chess more often than not now days and I don't know whether I'm just getting better or whether Mom's ability to concentrate and strategize are starting to suffer more from her schizophrenia or whether her new medication is affecting her brain function. It really worries me. Even if it is the medication she needs to be on it though it will be one more reason for her not to want to take it if she realises what it is doing. I think that she has to know that she isn't thinking clearly, though I can't see how she wouldn't notice, she's not that far gone when she isn't delusional. I know that I'd prefer her to be on her meds than hearing voices and paranoid about being watched and controlled but I wonder how I'd feel if I was in that position, would not having episodes of extreme fear and confusion be worth never being able to think clearly? Or would I want to risk not being myself for the clarity of thought when I was well. I hope I would choose to take the medication. I just hope that Mom doesn't resent me for making her take it, taking that choice away from her._

_Mom's been pretty good about taking her medication lately and we've had a lot of good days over my school break. I think it helps when I'm home all day but I just can't give up school and everything. For one thing I'll eventually need to earn a living we're scrimping and saving to get by on Mom's university pension and disability, and to be honest I'm too selfish to give up my dreams for my future. I tell myself that Mom wouldn't want me to give up going to Caltech to stay home with her and on good days she'd tell me the same thing but I still feel guilty that I'm going off on this huge adventure where she can't come with me._

_I got my school report and passed all my subjects for the first half of the year, which academically isn't much of a surprise but I even passed the ones with attendance requirements without having to ask Mom to go in and argue for consideration to be paid for all the times I didn't attend class because I was hurt by bullies in the school, which relieves me. Just one more semester to go until I am out of that damned school. I apologise for sounding like I'm swearing but I meant it literally the school should be damned. I hate it there, anyone who succeeds in that school does it in spite of the attitude of the school itself. There are a few good teachers but by large the culture of the school either drives them away or wears them down to mediocrity. It isn't that they didn't care about their students but they certainly aren't encouraged to step in and protect the misfits from the popular students or to demand civilised behaviour from the bullies. I would have attempted changing schools if I had any hope that any of the others schools in the area were different. But they're all overcrowded, underfunded and understaffed. The class size and the number of classes each teacher is expected to teach grows larger each year until none of them have time for individualised attention or anything but their own classes and marking. I wish I could go to college already but if something goes wrong and I have to come home to look after Mom, I want to at least have my High School Diploma. I really don't know how Mom's going to cope with me not being here each morning to make her take her medication. I don't think my persuasions will work as well over the phone, if she will even answer it to talk to me, which she won't on her bad days. One of her more common delusions is that the government listen in on all telephone calls in the country and will come and take me away from her if we say the wrong thing. That's the worst part of going to Caltech it's too far to come home during the week and I know that most of the time I wont even be able to talk to her. I could write to her like I do to you but I already know it won't be the same and it won't stop me from worrying. Especially as she would still have to get up and pass the front door to get the letters and on a bad day she frequently doesn't come downstairs at all. I will need to find someone who is prepared to come in and make sure Mom takes her medications and takes meals and my letters up to her when she doesn't come down, and hopefully she will believe that the letters really were written by me._

_I tried to take your advice about learning to speak Russian at the same time as reading it but neither the school library or the Las Vegas public library have a teach yourself to speak Russian recording. I will have to wait and look in the Caltech and the Pasadena public libraries. I did however meet an old lady who speaks Russian, but she won't teach me, she's almost as paranoid as Mom is about the government watching her actions but I suppose she might have more reason for her fears. Since learning Russian is now on the backburner for the time being, I've been trying to learn more astronomy and astrophysics. Vegas isn't the best place for astronomy with all the ambient light from the strip interfering, nor is it a good hobby for someone who doesn't like being outside in the dark, but it is still a fascinating subject particularly the theories of how stars are made and develop through their lifespans…._

_I haven't spent any time lately in the hideout, not only has it been too cold and whatever you did to be able to have a fire in the fireplace without smoking the place out hasn't lasted, I tried to make a fire and smoked the place out. It will take another few days to clear and I had to bring home the blankets and wash them. Apart from the smell of smoke, the place seems somehow abandoned and lonely without you there. I miss you Harry. I'm glad we can write to each other but like I said about writing to Mom, it isn't quite the same as having a friend to talk to or even just someone to listen. If Santa were real, I would have asked him for a cure for Mom, but if he couldn't do that then to bring you here for the holidays too, or for Mom to be well enough for her to take me to Surrey to see you for the school break. I think I would like that even better, then I could meet your new friends at the restaurant and know that they'd notice and do something about it if the Dursleys lock you up again and you can't go there for more than a day or two._

_I hope you had a nice Christmas and got to eat your share of all the lovely food you cooked in preparation for it. It did all sound so traditionally British like a Christmas feast in a book. I think you must be brilliant in the kitchen to make all that. Petunia doesn't know how lucky she is to have your help._

_Your friend _

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_** Tuesday 16/1/90**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**I'm sorry if I offended you. I didn't realise that you weren't Christian. Are you religious? What religion are you? Are there other days you do celebrate? Have I said the wrong thing?**_

_**If you don't like talking about it it's okay, it's really none of my business. I don't think I've met anyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas before, or if I have, they weren't stupid enough to tell the Dursleys. Vernon hates anyone who is different to him in any way. It doesn't make any difference to our friendship, the Dursleys claim to be Church of England but they aren't churchgoers, I think that Petunia might have liked to be but getting Dudley to sit still in Church would be impossible and it's the one place I expect even she would be embarrassed by his behaviour.**_

_**I had a great Christmas feast. You'll laugh about it I'm sure. On the night before Christmas eve I couldn't sleep and I heard Dudley come down and help himself to the shortbread, gingerbread and other sweets, and I heard Petunia scolding him as he went back upstairs with a big bowlful of stuff, then later I heard Vernon come down and help himself to things, I heard him cutting Christmas ham and opening the tin Petunia used for the fruitcake, this time Petunia caught him as he put the ham back in the fridge but she didn't open the fridge to check how much he'd eaten, so I waited until I was absolutely sure they were all asleep and went out and helped myself too. I had a big feed of the ham and hid a couple of old lunchboxes full of treats that will keep for a week or two in my cupboard. Petunia was furious with both of them and gave them a stern lecture when they tried to blame me. They didn't really think I'd done it Vernon thinks Dudley took more than he admitted to and Petunia thinks it was the two of them, I don't think that Dudley thought about it at all. Petunia sent Vernon out to buy another ham and more ingredients and we spent another day baking Christmas treats to replace the ones she thinks they ate, and I spent the day eating the scraps as I baked. I didn't get much of the roast dinner, not even a few small bits of meat as I was dishing up because for some reason Vernon likes to carve the meat at the table at Christmas. I can't think why! He never does any other day, he thinks it's a waste of time and Petunia has to carve and dish up before she calls him to the table. Still I managed to hold back a bowl of vegetables and the Yorkshire pudding with a little bit of the sauces for me as I was putting things in the serving platters. They had so much food it's a wonder that the weight of it didn't break the table so I'm sure they won't've missed it.**_

_**I'm sorry if I've spoiled the hideout for you. Meeting you there has changed my whole life for the better in so many ways, and I'm sad that it's made yours worse in anyway. You need a place to feel safe and comfortable. I hope you will get over what you're feeling about it now. Remember that it was yours long before you met me and that you spent a lot of happy and comfortable hours there safely. Hopefully it will seem normal to you again soon. I wish I could send you something that would help.**_

_**I hadn't thought about school funding and stuff like that before, but it is the same here. I thought the teachers just believed the stories that the Dursleys told about me and that they were stupid not to notice or care that Dudley's homework is never in his handwriting. But you're right about the class sizes and we haven't had any new books or equipment in an age, half the readers are nearly falling apart, or at least half the ones they give to Dudley and I are, maybe they know that they're more likely to be wrecked with us. Dudley doesn't treat any books well and he takes delight in getting me in trouble by stealing or ruining my books, and making me hand them back to the teacher in the most horrendous condition.**_

_**I read up on some of the things you said about the stars and their origins, it all sounds interesting but it also sounds like there might be a bit of guesswork in all those theories. Or maybe it's not guesswork, just things so far out of my understanding that I don't even fully know what I don't know about it. But it sounds like we might never know which theory is right, I guess that's why the people working on it are so interested it's like a giant mystery. I guess it's people with a mind like yours that may one day solve it, I found it interesting to think about but even one look at the math theories involved was enough to make my head swim. Is that something you think you might want to study?**_

_**Don't worry about me, I'm safe, warm and eating well, between the cooking Petunia is teaching me and helping out with the basic ingredient preparation for the restaurant I'm becoming quite a proficient cook, and I've been getting to eat the ones that don't turn out good enough to serve to Vernon or in the restaurant. Thanks to his pigging out on desserts in all the buffets in Las Vegas, Dudley has grown out of his new winter coat already so while it's still so much too big for me that it looks ridiculous and has some disgusting stains down the front that I can't get off, it still feels almost new and thick and warm. Petunia should have known better than to buy Dudley a light blue coat, but of course he got to pick it out. It's also one of those waterproof coats that has an interior drawstring to make it fit better around the waist so it isn't quite as drafty as it could've been and being too big for me it makes an excellent blanket as well.**_

_**I spend most of my free time at lunch and recess in the library, thought the librarian has started to look at me suspiciously because the books I'm reading are far beyond the reading level I have to pretend to be at in class. She must have been talking to my teacher. Still she can see that I'm not harming her precious books so she's left me alone so far. I miss our conversations about books. I'm currently reading the Chronicles of Narnia series, which is a lot easier going than the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings but still really interesting. Of course, I'd get in trouble if anyone tells the Dursleys I'm reading it. It's not normal enough to fit into their world view, and I think the whole idea of a fantasy world that children enter through their cupboard would especially upset them, since I spend so much time in one. Maye they'd stop locking me in it though, which might be good but I'm coming to appreciate the alibi being locked in gives me. Fantasy novels, movies and video games are the only thing I've seen them refuse to buy for Dudley and not give in on, they'll buy him the most violent and inappropriate things instead. They seem almost afraid of anything not normal. Can you recommend me anything else I should read?**_

_**I'm still practicing card counting when I can. I borrowed a second pack of cards from Dudley since I could do one pack nearly all the time now. Don't worry he won't miss it, he hadn't even opened it. I think he came home with a pack from all the casino's Vernon and Petunia went to.**_

_**Your friend**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_ Wednesday 1/31/90_

_Dear Harry_

_Don't worry about me being offended at you not knowing we don't celebrate Christmas, I wasn't. it's not a religious thing and even if it was you couldn't be expected to know something I hadn't told you._

_It's not that I don't believe in Christmas and I would like to celebrate it if it didn't trigger Mom's bad days more often than not, you didn't offend me, my parents are nominally Christian and I was Christened in the Uniting church, though neither of them have ever been churchgoers or particularly religious, to my knowledge. Personally, I find myself highly sceptical of the existence of a beneficent God, and the creation story doesn't sit right with my scientific knowledge either so I'd describe myself as more of an agnostic or atheist, than Christian. That being said Christmas has become more of a secular holiday than a religious one for many people anyway and we used to celebrate before my Dad left, but since then it upsets Mom too much, and when she's upset her paranoid delusions get worse. She isn't often capable of shopping for anything other than food, not even always that, so expecting her to purchase gifts for me and all the rest of the family for a specific date is stupid, and I wouldn't know what to get them so I can't help. Then when she's ill, having unusual things in the house like the Christmas decorations frighten her and make her feel spied upon so it's better just to ignore the whole thing as much as possible. I do miss it, but it's not worth making Mom ill and it's better not to dwell on it. We had a nice two weeks together and when all is said and done Christmas is supposed to be about families being together, even if we are just a family of two now._

_They did Christmassy things when I was at elementary school just as you do but now that I've been moved up the classes I'm in are too busy studying for mid-term exams to do anything and only a few of the teachers make any attempt to decorate their classrooms. Of course, any form of religious decorations or cheap lights that might be a fire hazard are strictly forbidden but there are a few sad and scrawny looking bits of tinsel about, and one new teacher went all out decorating his classroom like a gingerbread house but some kids got in and graffitied all over his brown paper walls. It was a pity, he probably wont bother next year either._

_Dad didn't call or send a Christmas card this year either. I had hoped he would at least send something to let us know he was okay and how he was getting on. I do wish I knew that he was all right. Mom might have heard from him and just not told me but I can't ask her, it would upset her too much. It would also be nice if he sent the child support payments he would have to pay if Mom was well enough to go to court to get a divorce but I guess I should just be grateful that he's obviously still making the mortgage payments on the house since we haven't been kicked out yet. The bank must have a new address for him too, because the statements no longer come to the house, but they wouldn't tell me what it was._

_I did laugh to myself about your early midnight Christmas feast, I'm glad you got to enjoy some of the food you worked so hard to prepare, and it serves the greedy pair right to be in trouble with Petunia for a change. Especially since I'm sure you get blamed and punished for things they've done all the time. But if I were Petunia I wouldn't have made more for them. I would have told them that they'd had their share of the Christmas treats and locked the rest away for guests and made them go without._

_As for things to read, I could recommend thousands of books I've loved. If you like fantasy with a bit of whimsical craziness you should read 'Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass'. I know it sounds like it would be a bit girly but it really isn't except for the very start, though the main heroine is a girl. For books that aren't based in fantasy you might try 'Treasure Island' by Robert Louis Stevenson, 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' by Mark Twain, though you might like his other story 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' better, it's probably written more for someone your age. 'The Outsiders' by S. E. Hinton, and 'Robin Hood' I mean the original story by Roger Lancelyn Green, are also great reads._

_I don't know if I want to study astrophysics at college. It interests me now as something new I haven't researched into before, mostly the mathematical side of things but a large part of me thinks I want to study chemistry and pharmacology to try to work on a cure for schizophrenia, or if not a cure then at least a more effective medication to treat it. I know I don't want to study medicine and become a doctor, but medical research would be interesting._

_Sending me something to help the hideout feel more at home is a great idea! But don't worry, I'm not asking you to send anything extra I'm just going to start keeping your letters there, and to go to the hideout to read your new letters and write to you. Hopefully that will help me feel closer to you there and less like I'm missing something important when I'm there. I'm a little nervous about leaving your letters there, they are precious to me even though I can remember every word you've written but they're just as likely to be safe there as they would at home or in my school bag or locker._

_Your friend_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

0

_** Monday 19/2/90**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**Thanks for the book recommendations, I've just finished Treasure Island and it was terrific. I've also read 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' last week and I really liked it. Have you read it or seen the movie? I overheard bits of it when Dudley was watching it on the Telly a few weeks ago. Vernon wasn't home to object, but I'm not sure why Petunia let him watch that, it starts out normal enough but the factory is anything but a normal factory. The Oompa Loompas ought to have freaked her right out. I loved the book but wish I could have seen the movie, it's an old one though, I heard Dudley complaining about the poor-quality special effects. Of course, the movie is a musical of some sort though not like the ones Petunia normally likes to watch. Maybe she's trying to get Dudley to be more interested in the things she's interested in. You and your mum seem to do a lot of things together in spite of her illness but the only time Dudley spends with Petunia without whining is when he's eating or she's buying him gifts.**_

_**I understand you wanting to work to find a cure for your mum, but is spending all your time in a laboratory, away from people what you want to do? And restricting yourself to such a small thing to study instead of everything you're interested in? Or do you just think you should want to study that because you want your mum to be cured so badly? I know your mum would want you to learn things that interest you and make you happy. And it would be very frustrating to work on a cure for schizophrenia when it is so important to you to succeed, and you might not. Schizophrenia has been around for a long time and they haven't found anything that works all of the time yet, and I know you wouldn't be satisfied with a medication that works just a little bit better, or a cure that works for some people and not others. Especially if it didn't work for your mum.**_

_**I've been continuing to work with my power to make things happen in the hope that I can learn to stop it happening by itself. I'm not sure how successful I am at stopping it from just happening but I am beginning to be able to make it happen on command, though sometimes it takes a while. So far I've been able to lock and unlock any door, even Vernon's car the other day I tried. I can jerk things loose from high branches when Dudley has thrown my things up into the tree. I can make light and warmth on command when I'm in bed and too cold to sleep. I can't make food that tastes like food but I'm a bit afraid of eating food that's come from nowhere any way so maybe I just haven't tried as hard as I could, nothing else lasts more than a few hours, what if the food disappears later once it's digested and being used to do things in my body? I read about what it's used for in the library and I'd be in trouble if small bits of me started disappearing leaving holes in my veins and arteries or my organs. I can repair a ripped piece of paper or a hole in one of my T-shirts and the hole doesn't come back but sometimes the colour doesn't seem quite right where it was repaired. I can just about repair a broken bottle, it holds water without leaking half the time but you can still see where the breaks used to be. I'm trying to repair my shoes so they keep the water out and my glasses where Dudley broke the arm off because the tape holds the arm on too loosely and they keep sliding down my face. Neither of these things seem to be working yet but I'm not discouraged.**_

_**Is keeping my letters in the Hide out helping you feel safe and happy there again? I hope so. I hate to think that because you gave me a safe place for a couple of weeks you kind of lost your safe place.**_

_**You weren't missing anything not doing Christmas stuff at school. Most of the stuff we made was pretty lame, or maybe I just feel like that because I don't have anyone to gush over it and hang it on the Christmas tree no matter how ugly it is. Letters to Santa when the teacher has to know that at least half of us don't believe in him already and we don't need an excuse to practice our letters. I think sometimes our teacher thinks we're still five-year-olds. And we made door wreaths out of garbage bags. It's just as well Dudley never finished his because I can see Vernon and Petunia frowning at it every time they opened the front door. The gingerbread house sounded cool though your classmates are probably a bit old for it.**_

_**You didn't tell me about what you're reading.**_

_**Your Friend**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_Thursday 3/8/90_

_Dear Harry_

_It was Dad's birthday last week, I wanted to send him a card but Mom said she doesn't know where he lives or works anymore. It's like he just dropped off the face of the earth. Maybe he'd rather not get a card from me anyway. I don't know. Sometimes I think it might be easier if he died and I wasn't waiting for him to turn up one day, but then I feel guilty for thinking that. But at least if he'd died, it probably wouldn't have been my fault he isn't here. Mom tells me it isn't my fault anyway, that it was her illness he was too weak to handle, and blames him for his weakness. But the fact that she begged him to take me with him but he refused, and that he hasn't come to visit or even called me in more than eighteen months means that he doesn't want to be my father anymore. I thought he loved me. I knew he was disappointed that I wasn't better at T-ball or more interested in sports or more like a normal kid but I still thought he loved me. Was he fooling me my whole life, or did something change? And if so, what was it? I understand that knowing what it was won't do me any good now with him because he isn't coming back but I'd like to know what it was. I don't want anyone else in my life to leave me like that._

_I've still been reading a lot about space theory and the origins of the universe. I find facts more interesting than fiction a lot of the time._

_I've had to read Romeo and Juliet for school this term, but don't try and read it now, there's at least a thirty percent chance they'll inflict it on you in your last two years of high school. It's in old English which you'd find very heavy reading now, I don't mean to insult your language skills but a lot of our class still had trouble with it but it's a classic by one of the most famous playwrights in history, if he really did write it which some scholars doubt he did. Anyway, he's famous for the way he words things so schools want to study the original not some modern English translation. If you must read his work pick one of the comedies or histories. As for Romeo and Juliet, basically the story boils down to a melodramatic plot where two young people from opposite sides of a family feud fall in love and go to ridiculous lengths to be together and it all falls apart from a stupid degree of lack of communication with each other. One pretends to die so they can run off and be together without being searched for but neglects to tell the other what they're going to do so they think their love is really dead and commit suicide, the other wakes up and finds out what they'd done and kills themselves too. It's totally absurd, and this is supposed to be one of the most famous love stories of all time. Mom loved it when she studied it, we even argued about it._

_Aside from school work I've been reading War and Peace by Tolstoy. It's set during Napoleon's invasion of Russia but from a couple of Russian people's point of view and is a bit historical and a bit romance and war story. I really enjoyed it. It's one of the books I would like to reread in Russian when I learn it. I would recommend you read it but perhaps not for a few years. Mom's also been reading Tristan and Isolde to me, it's about a knight that goes to Ireland to court a princess for his guardian the King to marry and they fall in love. I don't know if I believe in love like that that makes people abandon their duty and honour and common sense, but as a famous classic love story it is far more palatable that Romeo and Juliet. It's perhaps not really suitable for a nine year old though, a little too much French romance. Stick to your adventure books and enjoy what little childhood you've been allowed to have, Harry. Don't be in too much of a hurry to read adult books. You don't need to pretend to be more grown up to have things in common with me. _

_I know you are too much of a people person to want to work alone all day but I'm not like you, for me at the moment the thought of having a job with my own lab or office where I spent most of my time alone and had control over who else could enter it sounds like a dream come true. I wouldn't have to worry about sounding weird for being interested in everything and scientists are expected to be a bit strange. Nobody would criticise me for it. _

_You're right though that it will take discipline to limit myself to one field of research like that, and I'd have to find a university or company that wanted to employ me to search for the cure. And that it's possible I may be too emotionally invested in finding a cure for Mom to be entirely pragmatic and scientific about the research._

_Give my thanks to the people at the restaurant that receive my letters for you, and take care that you don't starve. I hope you are well and that the Dursleys aren't hurting you. It's great that you have your power thing more under control and can use it to make sure you're not locked up without sufficient food and water. Be careful though, if it's like muscles or card counting abilities it will get stronger the more you use it. If it does get out of your control again it could cause bigger things to happen than in the past._

_Your friend_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Saturday 24/3/90**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**It wasn't your fault your Dad left. I know it wasn't! I know that doesn't mean much coming from me who never met him and doesn't remember having a father, but think about it, if any kid deserved to have a father walk out and not come back it would be Dudley. He doesn't do a single thing but whine for what he wants when his father's around. And still Vernon thinks he's wonderful and spoils him even more rotten than he is already and Dudley's friends' fathers are just as bad. And I know you. You are the best friend I could ever imagine, and the best son I've ever heard of outside of a book. You and your mother love each other so much and I know you loved your Dad too before he left, you probably still do, though he doesn't deserve it. I don't know why your Dad left and you may never know what's stopping him from calling you, writing a letter every now and then or coming to see you but I do know that it wasn't anything you did or didn't do. Father's are supposed to love their children and if they don't it's a failing in the father as a person not a failure of the child to be worth loving. You know this from your studies into families and from literature in general. It's your Dad's fault that he's not there with you. He's the one that was too weak to look after your mother, too uncaring to make sure the two of you were properly looked after, and too selfish to take you with him when he left. He should be ashamed for breaking up your family and for leaving you with your Mom. I know you wouldn't have wanted to leave her for very long, but it was still wrong of him to leave the two of you alone. If he really couldn't stay, then he should have organised someone else to help you.**_

_**I have read 'Alice in Wonderland' at the library, it was very strange, while I was reading I didn't want to put it down but now it's finished I'm not sure that I liked it. Does that make sense to you? Anyway, now I'm reading 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn', they didn't have the Tom Sawyer book. I'm enjoying it but I think it's probably one of those books I'm going to have to read again later to really understand, or learn more about the racial differences in America because a lot of it doesn't really make sense to me. It is entertaining though. My teacher also recommended that we read 'Maniac Magee' about an orphan who runs away from his aunt and uncle, the whole class I mean not just me and Dudley. I wonder if she was trying to encourage me to run away, and if so why? Does she think I'd be better off away from them or does she think that they'd be happier if I left? I looked for the book in the library but it's already checked out so I'll have to wait to read it.**_

_**You're right that there are days that not having to deal with bullies would make working alone seem like a good idea but I'm hoping that once I get away from the Dursleys and their lies, people won't be like that. Just about everyone I met in Las Vegas was friendly, or at least nice and polite, like my friends at the restaurant who don't know the Dursleys, or at least don't know that I'm their freak nephew because I expect that they do eat here the food is great and the serving sizes are pretty large so Vernon should like it. **_

_**I also think that I might want to do something where I get to work outside or with food. I really enjoy helping out in the kitchen of the restaurant. At dinner time it's so busy and kind of crazy with everyone rushing here and there and the chef calling out orders but everyone has their role and they all work together to get the meals out. It's fascinating to watch but most of the time when I'm there it's too early for that, the kitchen is calm and everyone jokes and laughs as they work, and we all know that doing the prep work then helps when it's busy later. It feels good to be part of that.**_

_**The staff at the restaurant are interested in my letters. I told them you asked me to thank them for you and they were happy that you're as grateful as I am. I explained to then who you were when I first asked them if they'd keep the letters for me. I don't think that they expected us to keep writing to each other as often as we do. They're still happy for you to send my letters there for me, just surprised that we haven't lost contact.**_

_**I wasn't saying that you shouldn't try to find a cure for Schizophrenia if that's what you wanted to do. I think that you'd be brilliant at it and it probably needs someone who's brilliant and highly motivated to find a cure. I was just worried that you'd get too upset if you couldn't do it first try. From what I've heard when they mention breakthrough's on the news, researching new treatments takes years and years, even after they think they have discovered it before it can be given to people. I've heard Vernon complaining about the slow progress of these things and giving people false hope by announcing them before they're ready to use. Of course he also complains about the cost of research and the appearance of the people doing the research so maybe I've got it wrong.**_

_**Your friend **_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Two or three letters later

_Saturday_ _4/21/90_

_Dear Harry_

_I truly don't know what I would do without your friendship tonight and I wish you were here with me more than ever. _

_Don't panic, Mom and I are okay and I'm not in need of healing in any way or not really, the skin on my wrists is a little sore from the ropes but it'll be fine in a day or two. Mostly I'm just feeling humiliated and embarrassed and angry and I'm really upset that there's nobody here I can turn to or trust._

_The football team and their hangers on have taken their bullying to a whole new level. Don't worry I'm not seriously injured and I don't want to go over the details but I was totally humiliated, and at least half the school was watching and not a single person said anything to try to stop them, or even stayed to help me after they'd left. They all just left me there tied up to the goal post, naked, it took half the night to get myself free. Literally, I didn't get home until after midnight. I don't know what they did with my clothes, luckily I'd left my books and my bag in the library so hopefully they'll still be there, but I had to walk home in the dark covered up with a pair of dustbin lids I stole from one of the people who live near the school. Luckily Mom was having a bad day and hadn't even noticed that I hadn't come home from school on time. _

_Of course, she hadn't eaten or taken her evening meds either so I had to wake her up and fight with her to take them. I feel really guilty, I've never been glad Mom had a bad day before but I know she would want to go to the school and complain about what happened if she knew about it and it would only make things worse, not to mention the risk that knowing I was attacked would set off her paranoia about letting me leave the house again. If child protective services found out how sick she is I would be taken away from her and I couldn't bear that. And then I felt even angrier that they'd made me glad Mom had a bad day and that they'd made me feel guilty._

_I don't know how I'm going to find the courage to go back to school on Monday and face them all, but if I don't go then they will have won, they will know they've broken me and I won't give them that. It's only another couple of weeks until the summer and none of them will be at Caltech, in fact nobody else from our class got into any Californian University, thank goodness. Though there are a couple of girls I heard talking about moving to Los Angeles to try to make it as actresses, they're not the people I really don't ever want to see again. _

_Academically I've done everything that I need to do to graduate but the school has a policy that students must attend eighty percent of their classes to pass and graduate no matter what their grades are. I've made a calendar of the days until graduation on the wall in our hide out and I'll check each one off on my way home, another day survived. _

_There was a school shooting in Texas last week, a sixteen year old junior who'd been bullied until he snapped and took his father's semiautomatic to school and killed a teacher and half a dozen students. Tonight, I understand what he was feeling, if I didn't have you to befriend me, understand me and support me when I feel alone and misunderstood by everyone here, and if I had another five years of this ahead of me or this level of bullying had been happening for the last four years, I'm afraid that I'd eventually snap too. I must admit I daydream sometimes about getting back at them all, but I don't think I could do it with a gun, maybe a bomb or poison gas into the gym changerooms after practice, it would be easy enough to orchestrate. Don't worry, I won't do it! I'd rather embarrass them somehow than kill them. If only there was a gas that dissolved clothing and left the lot of them naked without a change of clothes after before school training. I can survive another 23 school days. Writing to you has helped a little, it's good to have a friend to share things with._

_Your Friend_

_Spencer_.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Friday 27/4/90**_

_**Dear Spencer, **_

_**I'm so sorry you were hurt and humiliated. I wish that I was there to hug you and stop it from happening but I guess even if I was at the hideout I wouldn't have been at the high school. What happened to you is totally wrong and I wish you could go to the police and have all of them arrested for assaulting you. They're so much older than you the police should take it seriously. It was assault Spencer, every bit as much as you convinced me that what my uncle does to me is assault, not punishment. But one thing you always told me, one thing that you want me to believe, what happens to me isn't my fault. What happened to you that afternoon wasn't your fault either, and you shouldn't be the one who feels embarrassed about it. They are the ones who are monsters and should feel horrible about what they did. And the kids that watched and knew how you were feeling and still didn't stop it should feel embarrassed and guilty about not helping you. It should be them and not you that has nightmares about what happened that afternoon and some of them will I'm sure.**_

_**By the time you will get this you will have gone back to school and faced them all. I have no doubts that you did it, because I know how strong you really are and how important it is to you to finish school and protect your mum. I truly wish I'd been there with you on Monday to support you on your way to school and for you to know I'd be waiting and ready to listen to whatever you wanted to tell me on your way home. **_

_**I'm glad that writing to me helped, hopefully getting this letter will help as well. It is good to know that I have a friend too. I will be your friend always Spencer. I will always be on your side though there isn't anything I can do to your bullies from here. If my power stuff worked at this distance their heads would have all exploded I was so angry at them. Seriously I was trying to send them a rash or something that made wearing clothes impossible for them for the next year or two, and to turn their privates into something that everyone would laugh at when they saw them. **_

_**Don't feel guilty about being glad that your mum wasn't well enough to notice what happened. I'm glad she wasn't aware of it either, though it would have been good if there was someone there to comfort you or to have gone looking for you when you didn't arrive home. The main reason that you didn't want her to know what happened, was to protect her from the attention and investigations she'd face if she did know and tried to do something about it, and you know that it would only hurt to know you were hurt like that. Especially if she was well enough to realise she couldn't risk trying to do anything about it.**_

_**School continues here the same, everyone else is looking forward to the week off for the spring holidays, I would be too if there was any way I could come and spend it in the hideout. My spring break from school here will be an endless drudge of chores and running away from Dudley and his friends. I won't miss classes and the teacher glaring at me all the time but I will miss the library and being able to learn new things. **_

_**I finally got to read 'Maniac Magee' but I still can't work out why the teacher wanted me to read it. Yes it would be nice to get away from the Dursleys but I'm not naïve enough to believe that living on my own would be safe or comfortable, let alone a grand adventure. Adventures are fun to read about but I don't think that I'd want to live through one.**_

_**I think that the Dursleys would be happy if I ran away, until someone reported me missing and they had to deal with the investigation into my disappearance. I wonder if that happened whether the neighbours and the school would continue to protect them or if they'd report how the Dursleys always treated me since there was clearly something going on if I vanished. It would be nice to think about them being the ones that were glared at suspiciously everywhere they went. Of course, that assumes that the police didn't just find me right off and return me to Privet Drive which they probably would. I don't think I'd be much good at running away and hiding. Unless I could find a hideout inside a library. I think I could hide there for quite a while if I had enough to eat. I could use my power to let myself in and out of spaces I couldn't get to normally. The more I think about it the more I like the idea. Maybe I should keep working on my power stuff first and try to use it to make myself invisible or at least unnoticeable. Mind you if I could be unnoticeable then I wouldn't need to leave in the first place. I could stay and be left alone. That's the next thing I'm going to try to do.**_

_**I hope things go better for you. That some of the more decent people in your school do feel bad about not helping you and start stepping in to prevent something like that happening again. Or at least that the bullies realise how lucky they were to get away with that and back off.**_

_**Your Friend**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20 **

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_ 5/5/90_

_Dear Harry_

_Thank you for your support. It does help knowing that you still think highly of me and want to be my friend. Your letter made me feel a lot better, I wish you were here to talk to me in person, it would have helped me feel more confident returning to school the Monday after it happened._

_You're right, I did go back to school and face my bullies, and tried as hard as I could not to show them how much they'd hurt and frightened me. I even reminded a few of them that I'm twelve and they're legally adults. What happened, taking my clothes off, would be considered a form of sexual assault of a minor and if anything came out about it, they could all kiss their futures goodbye. I hope at least that will stop the story from spreading too far outside the school. If it isn't already too late that is. I don't think that anybody had a camera there, I didn't see any and I hope not, I don't like to think of someone having photos of me in such a humiliating situation. Worse if they made copies and kept putting them where I would see them. _

_I'm trying very hard to believe you that it wasn't my fault and that I didn't do anything wrong, but I also don't want to think of myself as an assault victim. I want to move past this, I just wish I could leave now and go to Caltech but I haven't got things sorted for Mom yet and if I leave now, I won't have my high school diploma and the last five months will have been for nothing. I'm also not entirely sure I could convince myself to ever come back if I was able to leave Vegas the weekend it happened. Not even for Mom, if it meant having to see any of them. But because I had to stay and face them they don't have that power over me. I'll be able to go to school and come home on weekends without worrying too much about seeing any of them. I wish I had your power thing, I bet I could make being unnoticeable work right now. Another 14 days of school to go. I can do this and walk away with my head held high. Funny thing is the guys who actually tied the knots were squirming in class today as if something was making them uncomfortable, I'd like to think that it was the rash you wished on them but I know realistically it couldn't have been. Still it made me smile internally._

_Mom still doesn't know what happened, she was delusional all weekend and the bruises and grazes from the rope, healed up before she noticed them. I spent most of Saturday hiding in the hideout, rereading your letters. It feels like home again now. Our home, where we are both safe from the bullies and can comfort each other. If I close my eyes and imagine hard enough I can almost believe that you're there._

_Luckily one of the librarians packed up my books and kept them behind the counter but I have to wonder if she did it because she heard what was happening, but didn't want to get involved in front of half the school. Anyway, I didn't end up losing anything other than my clothing which never turned up. Someone probably took it home with them, I hope they threw them away. I don't like to think of one of them keeping my underwear as a souvenir._

_Anyway, not to dwell on bad things, Mom's been taking her medication again and is improving, she's back lecturing to her imaginary classes but at least she's getting up and ready to lecture and not trying to leave the house and find her way to the university. Her lectures have been quite coherent and it's interesting to listen to her, or at least to the lectures I haven't heard too many times before._

_In my spare time I've been researching the history of treatments for Schizophrenia and the developments of the understanding of the disease. I have to be glad that Mom was born into this time and not any time in the past. Some of the treatments they inflicted on sufferers in their ignorance were truly horrific, and the fact that they were making money by charging admission so people could come and gawk at the asylum inmates like they were zoo animals makes me furious. But I'm sure most if not all of the practitioners were acting from good intentions and some of those treatments have proven effective for other mental illnesses, even if others ended up being merely torture. They medications they use now are slowly being improved but they don't work for everyone and a lot of people stop taking them for some reason, some of them because of the side effects. I understand why Mom doesn't like taking them._

_How is your reading going, are you ready for more book recommendations yet? I read a book the other day that I think you would like 'The Time Machine' by H G Wells. The science is preposterous bit the narrative is well written and the idea catches the imagination. _

_How is the restaurant, and school and the Dursleys. I hope everything is going well for you. _

_Your friend_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_** 18/5/90**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**By the time you get this you will be in your last few days of high school. That seems crazy since I still have another year of primary school. When we were together you didn't seem that much older than me and now you seem pretty much a grown up. I'm a little afraid that you'll grow up and leave our friendship behind. Especially if Caltech is everything you've imagined it will be and you're surrounded by like minds and make dozens of new and interesting friends. Your life will be full of grown ups and you'll leave the end of your childhood behind.**_

_**I know you're looking forward to leaving High School and looking forward to going to Caltech but are you afraid of how much and how fast your life is changing. I'm looking forward to the year after next when Dudley and I will be at different schools but I'm also a very little bit glad it isn't happening now. I don't feel ready for the change as good as I think it will be, and Stonewall high is so much bigger than Little Whinging Primary School. I know that's a good thing, it means that most of the kids in my new grade will never have met Dudley and the friends he has left will be only a small part of the class as a whole and not have the power they have now. I'll hopefully be able to make friends. I want it so badly, I don't know why I'm so scared of it at the same time. Does that make any sense to you? But I can pit it out of my mind because it's so far away. You can't? Does it help to know that I'm still going to be here and that our friendship wont change unless you want it to?**_

_**I'm going well, the staff at the restaurant are still feeding me and giving me odd jobs to do for a little cash to buy stamps and stash some food that will last a long time, in my cupboard in case of trouble from the Dursleys. They're teaching me how to make pizza dough and they've been experimenting with toppings for the gourmet pizzas to go onto their new menu. Some of them are surprisingly good and some surprisingly bad, I'm surprised sometimes about what will and won't go together. The chef lets all of us try it and vote on what we liked and disliked. He says that he needs lots of opinions because it's hard to know whether you personally like something nobody else will like or if it will sell. In any case it's great, I get to eat a lot of pizza even if some of them are rather strange. School is mostly boring but I understand all the work even if I'm not allowed to show it. I'm still spending most of my free time in the library and Dudley still hasn't come looking for me there, I don't know whether he doesn't know where I am or if he and his friends don't think of bullying me when I'm not there to remind them. The Dursleys are still their same unpleasant selves but so long as I don't embarrass Dudley or cheat and bring home better grades than he has and get my chores done they leave me alone for now. There's nothing really to tell you about them. This is a bit of a boring letter because I really have no news for you. Everything is going along the same as always. I haven't been hurt or punished for anything recently. **_

_**Our science class is starting to study physics, our class today looked at acceleration and deceleration. The teacher showed us movies of cars accelerating and breaking as hard as they could. Dudley enjoyed the video but he hadn't listened to any of the educational bits so I'm afraid I did much better tan he did on the test. We have a new science teacher and I think he realises that I'm deliberately not trying. He sent a letter home asking to have me put into a remedial science and math class while the others are doing arts and crafts. The Dursleys thought it was a great idea to separate me from Dudley and he and his mates were picking on me for needing the class but when I got in there it's really interesting. It's a remedial class for the year above me, so they're repeating experiments and getting more explanations of things they've already done but it's all new to me. Of course, it will cause problems next year when I'll have to fail at all these things he'll know I know but at the moment it's nice to have a class by myself. The other kids are all older than me and Dudley so they haven't paid much attention to his bullying. They're not willing to befriend me in the playground but they're nice enough in class. The remedial class are doing experiments with temperatures at the moment and Pythagoras for math.**_

_**I did like that book you recommended, time travel is an amazing idea. I wonder if any one will ever manage to make it work, and what they would do with it if they did. And I wonder how it would work, if someone changed something in the past, would everyone's memories of that thing change too or would people know that it had been changed? I think it would be interesting but also a very dangerous thing.**_

_**Your friend **_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_5/24/90_

_Dear Harry_

_I did it! I graduated from High School today and hopefully I'll never have to see any of those bullies again. I was class Valedictorian. I wanted to turn it down, nobody would want to hear me speak and plenty of students were angry about me getting it, but the school refused to let me. I think they wanted to use the publicity of having a twelve year old valedictorian to promote their school's academic achievement which is stupid because my intelligence wasn't anything to do with the school and I'd never recommend this school to anyone let alone a child prodigy like me. In fact, its highly possible I would have done better in another school, perhaps even one of the other public schools in Vegas would've been better than here, though their academic reputations are about the same._

_I don't think that the principal, the guidance counsellor or most of the staff were very pleased with my speech but since they forced me into giving it and considering the speech I wanted to give, they should be grateful that I restrained myself. Particularly since Mom was having a bad day and couldn't come, which was the original reason I even wrote a more politically correct version. He should have listened when I told him to ask someone else. I sent a copy of both speeches to you. I very nearly gave the one I didn't use to the reporter when she asked me about some of the comments in the one she heard. The only reason I didn't is that students and parents read the newspaper and I still have to live here over the summer. The principal came up to me afterward and tried to complain to me about not showing the school in it's best possible light. I told him I had been as politely dishonest as I could stomach and that if he wanted to improve the school's reputation he needed to work on the attitude of the staff and to make the school a safe place for all students not just the football team and popular kids, instead of depending on the students to lie about how badly the school treated them. I shoved the draft of the speech that I didn't use at him and told him that he ought to be grateful I can lie as well as I did, then walked away before he could say anything else. I'd like to see his face when he reads the original speech I wanted to give._

_I have the summer to get things organized to go to Caltech. I've been communicating with the professor who will be my mentor and academically everything is set and I'll be living in the dorms like a normal student. The problem is finding a way to get someone to look after Mom without the authorities knowing that she isn't capable of looking after herself or me. I have a few ideas on who to ask for help but it's going to take some effort to persuade them to do it. I hope I can get it sorted because I don't think I could leave her if I don't, no matter how much I want to go to Caltech. _

_I know we seem a long way apart in our education at the moment, and that may only increase as I keep completing more than one year of coursework per calendar year but I am only two years older than you and I think that I'll need your letters more than ever when I get to Caltech. Writing to you is pretty much the only time I get to spend being a kid, admitting to having childish thoughts and fears without worrying about whether people will think that I'm competent to be on my own at college or capable of looking after my mother. I get to be totally honest without worrying that you might use the things I tell you against me. It does help more that you could know._

_Your friend_

_Spencer_

_The Valedictorian Speech I wanted to give_

_Ladies and gentlemen, honoured guests, teachers, graduates and parents, good afternoon. I'm Spencer Reid and as I stand here to share with you the achievements of our time at __Las Vegas High School__. I have to be honest and tell you the biggest achievement for all of us was surviving the school year. Some like me are grateful that we survived the bullying, others don't know it but they should be grateful that I'm a stronger person than they realised because they wouldn't all have survived my retaliation if I hadn't been able to turn the other cheek and remind myself that I'm leaving to something better. _

_I have an eidetic memory so I can tell you exactly how many times I was injured by another student in this school. I remember every one of the 54 times I was shoved into a locker and the 336.74 hours that I spent locked in one. I can tell you that I received 38 black eyes 67 split lips, and my bones were broken on five separate occasions. But I can't tell you how many times a teacher looked away, purposely choosing not to see the bullying or the injuries on one of us. It happened too often to keep track of. _

_I stand here today Valedictorian, top of the class and the teachers, guidance counsellors and Principal want to take pride in my achievements. They shouldn't! They cannot justifiably do so! Only two of them were responsible for any of them. My success at __Las Vegas High School__ and any other achievements I've attained over the last two years in were spite of this school and its staff, not because of them._

_Two other numbers you should consider. One hundred. There are an average of just over one hundred shooting related incidents in schools across America every year, many of them perpetrated by students who finally cracked after being repeatedly and severely bullied without support from the people responsible for stopping it from happening, students like me. And Six! Six times I seriously thought about retaliating with violence and I'm certain that I'm not the only student this year who considered it. I don't have access to a gun, but the library contained all the information I would need to build a bomb, a Molotov cocktail or how to make and release poisonous gas into the air conditioning. The loaning records show that these books are checked out several times a year, on four occasions this year alone and not all by seniors, the ingredients are also easily available. This year __Las Vegas High School__ was lucky and we all made it to graduation, but if the culture of bullying is allowed to continue then there is no guarantee that __Las Vegas High School__ will continue to avoid a tragedy, and if disaster does strike it will be the fault of every teacher who chose to look away and refuse to see their student's suffering._

_So students celebrate your survival of the last four years, parents be thankful for the survival of your children. Teachers and counsellors please consider what you need to do to make sure that there is a day like this for all of next year's senior class and the years following them._

_The Valedictorian Speech I gave_

_Ladies and gentlemen, honoured guests, teachers graduates and parents, hello. I'm Spencer Reid and as I stand here to share with you the achievements of our time at__ Las Vegas High School__. I have to be honest and tell you the biggest achievement for all of us was surviving the four years spent here, two in my case. The school has done an exemplary job of preparing us for the real world, and yet we all approach this next stage of our lives with enthusiasm and optimism that we are going forth to achieve our dreams and can make our mark on the world. __Las Vegas High School__ has taught the value of team work, sporting success, self study, independent learning, independent problem solving, self resilience, and the use of position and personality to get ahead. Almost half of our class will be going on to further study in our chosen fields and many have jobs and careers beginning in the next few weeks. I wish them all well with their endeavours. Many of you have made lifelong friendships during our time at __Las Vegas High School__ and I know those friendships will help support you in moving forward into your adult lives._

_Congratulations seniors we have done it. We've survived. We've graduated into the real world and stand here today ready to take on the world. Congratulations to your parents too, they have survived our childhood and adolescence and along with our teachers, guidance counsellors and friends, have formed us into the adults we now become, and now turn us loose on the world to make our own way._

Harry was shocked as he read the twospeeches. He had never heard or read any other valedictory speeches but he could see why the principle wouldn't have been happy with the speech Spencer gave, he made the school sound like an ordeal to be survived but Harry could understand that. That's exactly what it was to kids like them. School was horrible and humiliating, it was only that being at his relatives was even worse that made Harry look forward to the end of the holidays. But Spencer made it seem like schools could and should be different and that it was his school's fault that it was like that and that he believed his new school Caltech would be different. It gave Harry some hope. In a couple of years' time he knew that he'd be going to Stonewall High and Dudley would go to a fancier school. Hopefully Dudley's friends would go to the other school too and maybe Harry would be able to make some friends among the students that came from the other primary schools in town. Maybe things would be different, in the meantime though at least he had one true friend in Spencer.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_** Saturday 2/6/90**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**Congratulations on your graduation. I know that the graduation certificate won't be a big deal to you in future when you have a ton of fancy university degrees, but you can at least look back in pride that you not only survived the hell they put you through but still achieved all your goals within the timeframe you set yourself. None of the bullies managed to change your life, and you can now put them behind you and hopefully not have to think about them again.**_

_**I liked your speeches they both sounded very impressive but I guess that it's good that you said the one you did, though I liked the other one better. Are there schools out there that are better than that. My school isn't. The bullying isn't quite as bad but only because the bullies are still kids themselves and we don't have lockers. I'm not looking forward to high school or secondary school as they call it here, except for the fact that I know Dudley and I will be going to different schools. He's going to the private school Vernon went to, which sounds like a bit of a nightmare from what I've heard of Vernon's stories, he makes it sound like the teachers actively encourage the students to hit each other with sticks, and I'm going to the local comprehensive which isn't a very good school but then neither was Las Vegas High and you still did okay. I know I'm not as smart as you but if I'm determined to learn and stay out of trouble then I'm sure I will, even if I can't bring home good marks. **_

_**I'm okay! I know you worry about me but I haven't been hit or starved lately and you know I've found another good source of food in case I am. Dudley and his friends haven't caught me lately, since I've started to eat better I've got faster, but they're starting to lose interest and go after smaller children in the neighbourhood, I try to step in and protect the real littlies when I can and I'm sure that I can get away without being hurt myself, but they're pretty careful to catch them on their own when I'm not around. This doesn't make me a hero, especially not in Little Whinging, I'm sure most of the parents think it's me bullying their children out of their pocket money. There isn't much I can do because the kids are frightened of being seen with me and attracting more of Dudley's attention. The good news, for me at least is that he's starting to develop asthma and he can't run as far now without beginning to wheeze. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he tries to blame the asthma on me somehow but I heard Petunia ranting to Vernon that the doctor thinks it has more to do with his weight, lack of exercise and snoring at night. Of course, the doctor must be wrong because her Dudders is a perfect strapping young man, he couldn't possibly be morbidly obese, chronically lazy or dangerously unfit or any of the other things the doctor called him. I wonder how they could be so blind.**_

_**You've influenced my leisure habits and turned me into a petty thief, not that I'm complaining, I've stolen Dudley's library card so I can borrow books from the town library though I have to be careful that the Dursleys don't see me with them. Vernon and Petunia would think I'd stolen the books and Dudley would just destroy them to get me in trouble. Now I can reliably make light when I'm locked in, I am spending my spare time reading, all sorts of things I'm currently reading 'The Mysterious Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' in the library and all about Mexican cuisine and culture. Don't worry, Dudley won't miss the card I don't think he's set foot in the library since Aunt Petunia used to take him to preschool story time and even then I think they only went a couple of times before she was asked not to bring him back until he could sit quietly and listen to the stories. She used to take me too. It was one of the few places she did take me unless she wanted me to help carry things. I wonder why?**_

_**You know I should be complaining that it doesn't seem fair that you've finished school for the year when we have another term to go, but the truth is that I'm glad we don't have an extra month of summer holidays, As horrible as school can be, I'd much rather be at school than stuck at home doing chores for Petunia all day every day. I've been on spring vacation this week and I must have scrubbed every inch of the inside of the house except the attic space, if I wasn't going back to school she'd no doubt have me start outside next week.**_

_**I still haven't found a hideout where I feel safe, but I've found a couple of small places I can hide for an hour or two and the library is always good to hide in. I don't know if they heard me mention a hideout or if it's just coincidence but Dudley and his friends have built themselves a gang hideout in one of the storm water drains, I tried to warn him that it was dangerous but of course they wouldn't listen to me. I only hope I'm not out on my own without an alibi when their stuff all gets washed away. **_

_**I've also spent more time helping out at the restaurant that you send my letters to. Just some dishes and clean up while one of their staff is off sick. Unfortunately, the pizzas for the new menu are all organised so the chef isn't stuffing us with trial pizzas anymore, instead he's experimenting with salads which are tasty and healthy but not filling. The other week I learned different ways to prep veggies, the other cooks were very impressed with the cooking skills I do have already and say I will make a good chef one day with the right training. The manager gives me a couple of pounds for the work I do there so you don't have to feel guilty that your letters are sent with stamps bought with stolen money any more. Of course, I can't spend much of the money on myself, the Dursleys will expect me to give it to them if they knew I was earning it but I've managed to buy some protein bars and stash them under the floorboards in my cupboard. I was tempted to buy chocolate but protein bars will be much more filling for longer if I get locked in there for any length of time and can't get out, or Petunia starts monitoring what food is going missing overnight like she threatened to the other day. It doesn't mean I can't take stuff, just that I can't take anything Vernon and Dudley wouldn't both take, so no fruits and vegetables or low fat stuff, so it's a good thing the restaurant has me trying new salads.**_

_**Your Friend **_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT **give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_ Monday 6/11/90_

_Dear Harry._

_I'm sorry that you can't find a hideout but you do have at least one safe place to go, the restaurant as well as the library when it's open. I'm very glad you had the sense not to make a hideout in the storm water drains. I wish I believed you never went in them at all, please don't go again, they're just not safe places to be._

_You need to warn your cousin and his friends about the storm drains again, it's not just his stuff that could be washed away, they are incredibly dangerous. Here in Nevada they can sometimes go from almost empty to completely full within minutes, even when the weather is fine here in the city and the rain is miles away up in the mountains, so it seems to occur without warning if you don't pay attention to the state-wide weather forecasts. There are often accidental deaths from people getting caught in the storm drains here. It might not be so very dangerous where you live but freak storms can happen anywhere. Though I must say that I'm surprised your cousin can fit through the openings into the storm drains in a suburban area, they're usually covered with locked grates to prevent people who aren't supposed to have business down there from getting into them and getting themselves into trouble. If you can't get them to listen to you, then you should consider telling an adult. Perhaps anonymously if you don't think they'd believe you because of your false reputation._

_I know you might sometimes like to think of your cousin and the other kids that bully you being washed away and I don't blame you for feeling that way. As much as he and his friends might deserve at least a good scare, I know you would feel horribly guilty if one of them drowned when you could have easily prevented it. And I don't want you to panic and feel that you have to risk your own life to go and warn them if you know they're in there when it does start to pour raining._

_I'm also afraid of what Vernon and Petunia would do to you if Dudley was seriously injured or killed, whether you could've done anything to prevent it or not and this situation where he's hanging out somewhere you know is dangerous you would feel guilty and if they saw the least expression of guilt on your face it would be a disaster. An orphanage is the best thing I could imagine, but it's possible if the storm water was still present that Vernon could take you and throw you in._

_I've managed to contact Mom's sister and her husband. They still live just north of Vegas so it won't be very convenient for them to visit Mom every day but it won't be too difficult either, if I can get a couple of Mom's old friends to help they'll only need to come once or twice per week. Anyway they're coming to afternoon tea next week to catch up with Mom and discuss it. I can't remember the last time they came, of course I might have been at school but they hadn't heard that Dad had left us so it has been a while. I don't know why they stopped visiting, and I want to know why and that they won't abandon her again before I leave Mom in their care. I hope it works out._

_Did you enjoy 'The Mysterious Adventures of Sherlock Holmes', I have never read it. Too busy with technical books and science and other things. I tend to avoid detective stories the one's I've read seem all too obvious. But Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is supposed to be the best mystery writer in the English world. If you recommend it, I will give it a try. _

_I have been reading the autobiography of Nichola Tesla, he invented the alternating current induction motor which contributed to making electricity current useable, but I don't think that I'd recommend it to you yet. You'd need more education on electricity, engineering and physics to make sense of it. _

_I ate at our buffet yesterday. The lady who was working the cash register at the entrance recognised me, she asked me my name last time I was there and today she actually said "Hello Spencer, I'm glad you came by, we have your favourite dessert today." I nearly combusted my face got so red but she just laughed and handed me my plate and cutlery. They did have too, peach cobbler so she must have been watching me for a while._

_I'd say that__ I'm sorry you don't get the long summer holiday we do but I think you're right that you're better off being at school. At least with people expecting to see you every day the Dursleys are less likely to lock you up so between your school dinner and the restaurant you're getting fed decently even if Petunia does start keeping track of the food. Do you really think she will though? I can't see the woman who let her son eat entire trays of deserts for lunch depriving him of his midnight snacks, it's not like she cares about his diet or she'd only stock healthy foods at home to help him lose weight._

_Your friend _

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Tues 26/6/90**_

_**Dear Spencer, **_

_**You don't need to worry about my cousin and his friends being washed away or drowned, they were all at home during a recent storm when the storm-water tunnels flooded and after the loss of their stash of sweets and whatever and they have abandoned their den so I didn't have to say anything to anyone and luckily nobody was hurt. I don't think that the drains filled up quickly enough that they would have been trapped anyway, well perhaps except for Dudley who wouldn't be able to bear leaving his sweets behind and probably had more in there than he could carry from the sound of his complaints about what got washed away. Dudley hasn't even tried to blame me for the flooding, though he still took the disappointment of not having his own secret place out on me. Unfortunately, now they are back to spending all their time in the park and on the streets tormenting me and the younger children stupid enough to come out to play on their own.**_

_**It was Dudley's birthday on Saturday, can you believe that the spoilt brat got thirty-eight presents, half of them things that I'm sure he will either never use or have broken by the end of the term. After cooking him a specially large breakfast and cakes for the class and his favourite dessert, I had to spend the weekend with Mrs Figg while they went to Alton Towers? Alton Towers is a theme and water park, it sounds like it would be a lot of fun if Dudley wasn't there but it's nearly three hours from here by car and I hate being trapped in the car with Dudley more than I hate being near him in general. Piers went with them and they went up Friday after Vernon got home from work so they could spend the whole day in the park and didn't get home until well after I went to bed on Saturday so I spent two nights in Mrs Figg's guest room. It was really nice to sleep in a proper bed but I didn't sleep well. I guess it was too soft and it smells like stale cats and makes my nose run a bit.**_

_**I don't think I told you about Mrs Figg, she's an elderly lady I think probably in her seventies or eighties who has about a dozen cats, most of them look like strays she's rescued. She lives around the corner from us. Petunia and Vernon usually send me there to be babysat whenever they go on holiday or out for a special day trip like Dudley's birthday. The only reasons I didn't stay with her when the Dursleys went to America is that she was away and Vernon's boss planned to bring the tickets to us at the airport and was expecting two boys. I've been going there since I can remember but I don't know how it started. She never looks after Dudley and I don't think that she and Petunia like each other very much but she has me every time Petunia asks her to. Dudley calls her the crazy cat lady and he and his friends are a bit frightened of her. You'd think that I'd like going there, I can eat as much as I want within reason and don't have any chores to do except to dry the dishes and carry home the shopping bags and pet the cats. The problem is that she can't cook. I mean she really, really can't cook, and she won't let me do it. This weekend we had over boiled cabbage and boiled mincemeat and cake that tastes vaguely like salmon and I swear one day she tried to feed me cat food. She also used to give me funny medicine that tastes more disgusting than anything I can remember but it made my injuries go away really fast and one time I had a cold with a really bad cough and sore chest, she gave me something that made steam come out my ears and the cold was just gone.**_

_**At first, I thought of asking her if she could receive your letters for me before I met my friends at the restaurant but something about her made me not want to tell her about you. I didn't know why I don't trust her but then I had a thought, she's been looking after my injuries every time I went there for years before I started school or was old enough for Kindergarten. She had to know that I was getting hurt at the Dursleys even if she didn't know which one of them was hitting me. And still she never did anything to stop it. She never called the police or took me to a hospital, or offered to keep me. If she'd done something back then it would have worked. Nobody would've been able to say it was my fault or that I got the injuries out playing with other kids.**_

_**And those medicines she used to give me worked too well, better than any medicine the doctor gave Dudley when he was injured. She doesn't give them to me anymore, even when I'm hurt now, she just gives me band aids and bandages and some Asprin. I wonder if those medicines had something to do with the healing stuff I can do, or if she was healing me while I was asleep. If that's true then she knows what this power I have is, and she's never told me about it. I'd like to know more about it, but somehow I don't think I should ask her.**_

_**I hope you're enjoying your holidays. Are you studying anything or just reading whatever takes your fancy?**_

_**Your friend **_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_ Monday 7/16/90_

_Dear Harry_

_You're right, it does seem like your Mrs Figg knows more about what's happening to you than she's admitting, and that she's deliberately not doing anything to get you taken away from the Dursleys. It could be something quite simple like the fact that she needs the money that the Dursleys or someone else are paying her to look after you, or it could be something quite different. Do you think she could be the reason that none of the neighbours question the Dursleys' stories about you being a delinquent and getting hurt outside of the house and family? Could she be the one who keeps an eye out and removes people's memories if they see you using your power for something?_

_It's also a bit odd that the Dursleys let her babysit instead of just locking you in your room and pretending to have taken you with them. How did they come to trust that she wouldn't add to the stories going around the neighbourhood of you being neglected, and that she wouldn't take you to child protection or the hospital to have your injuries properly looked at, documented and treated? Or does she have some sort of hold over them?_

_Are Mrs Figg and Petunia friendly? Wouldn't she think that it's odd that she always looks after you and never Dudley? I agree there's something not quite right, and I don't think you should trust her. I'm glad that you met your friends at the restaurant to give you a better option for receiving my letters before you tried to ask her. Though I don't see why she would have an opinion either way on you having a pen pal in America, none of the rest of it makes sense either so maybe she would. The Dursleys have done their best to isolate you and Mrs Figg hasn't done anything to stop it, in fact her looking after you as a toddler probably made it worse, if she hadn't been there then someone who has children would probably have been asked or the Dursleys would've had to take you with them,._

_Either way you would have been exposed to more people who could get to know you before you were old enough to have a reputation as a trouble maker._

_Alton Towers does sound like it would be fun, I'm sorry that you didn't get to go, but I guess that you're right that you are better off not being in close confines with the Dursleys for the weekend._

_Aunt Ethel came for dinner. Well to be honest Aunt Ethel and her husband Uncle Daniel came but Aunt Ethel does all the talking for both of them. She spent quite a lot of time insulting Dad, not just for leaving but for everything. She says he's the reason she stopped visiting us but Dad always worked from nine til six. If she wanted to see us and not see him it wouldn't have been that hard to do. Uncle Daniel seems nice enough I just didn't get to know him very well since he didn't talk until Aunt Ethel needed to use the facilities. He asked how we were managing financially, he was prepared to help out if we needed it and suggested that we give up the house and come and live with them but Mom didn't like the idea. Part of me is glad that we'll still have the house I grew up in and I understand Mom not wanting to leave the familiar neighbourhood but part of me feels like I'm being selfish, Mom would be better off with someone there to make sure she eats three times a day and takes her medications and looks after herself. Anyway, Mom wants to stay here and Ethel and Daniel agreed that they'd visit Tuesdays and Thursdays while I'm away at Caltech. I don't know if they realise how much Mom's going to need that help sometimes but I hope I can trust them to keep coming even if Mom's doing well at first and doesn't seem to need them. Her friends are coming next week and hopefully they will agree to cover Mom's care the other days._

_I read 'The Mysterious Adventures of Sherlock Holmes', it was very good. I couldn't guess the killer at all until Sherlock worked it out. I wonder if I could teach myself to be that observant? I feel like I already have a bit of the skill at least when it comes to Mom and her delusions and knowing when to get out before I get hurt and when it's going to be safe to cajole her into taking her medicine or having a shower and getting dressed, not to mention when it would be okay to change the bedsheets and tidy her room while she's not in it and when it would cause more trouble than it's worth._

_I'm not doing any formal study, other than attending Mom's lectures when she wants me there. I have a list of books to read for my classes next semester and I'm also researching things as I come across them. I'm sure you'd think it silly that I can't read mention of something without trying to find out all I can about it every time, but it's comforting to know more about the world around me._

_Your friend _

_Spencer_

Harry was surprised to get a parcel from Spencer before he'd had a chance to reply to Spencer's first letter. He felt guilty for being a bad friend and worried that something horrible had happened again. Then he opened it to find a birthday present and card. Spencer had sent him a book. One of his own personal favourites. 'The Count of Monte Christo' by Alexandre Dumas.

_Wednesday 7/25/90_

_Dear Harry_

_Happy Birthday. I hope you get to celebrate somehow. Do your friends at the restaurant know when your birthday is? I can understand you not wanting to drop hints considering how much they already help you. Just remember, even if nobody else celebrates with you I will be thinking of you and wishing as hard as I can that you have a great birthday. And wishing that next year is better for you with the Dursleys._

_I've sent you one of my favourite books, it's originally in French but the translation isn't too bad. I hope you like it._

_Love your friend_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_** Thursday 2/8/90**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**School has finished for the summer and already I'm wishing that I had more time to myself for something other than chores. Even the little spare time I have had I've spent at the restaurant helping out in return for a proper meal. I don't begrudge them the help, they've been marvellous feeding me as often as they do and I like helping out and feeling like part of the employees and not just a charity case, but I haven't been able to get to the library and I ran out of things to read days ago.**_

_**My aunt has decided to redo the back yard so in addition to helping out in the restaurant in exchange for leftovers and my regular chores and outdoor spring cleaning, I've been busy clearing it to get ready. Thank goodness it's fashionable to hire a garden designer or I'd be doing all the work. I don't know why she thinks the yard needs doing, they never use it. I think it's more about having the designer's truck parked out the front for the neighbours to see. It's a fancy new truck, bright lime green, with the landscaping company's name and logo on the back and both sides and very noticeable. The landscaper thinks I'm too small to do much of the heavy lifting so helping him is easy enough and he likes to talk so I've learnt a lot about the plants he's using and the care they need as well as about laying out suburban backyards in general. It's been fun though the contractor gives Petunia funny looks about the way she treats me and he's started bringing enough lunch to share with me. He pretends it's not for me but that he's just got too much and I'm going along with it. He's careful that the Dursleys don't see him give me food or rest breaks though so I'm still getting fed at night as well, and Aunt Petunia stopped Vernon from hitting me the other night so I wouldn't be too banged up to help with the garden layout. I asked him about whether I could keep helping him on his next project but he says I'm too young to hire, that it would get him in trouble with the labour laws. I told him that he didn't work me anywhere near as hard as my Uncle and Aunt do when he's not here but he only looked sad and said that he was sorry he couldn't do anything about that. I wanted to tell him that I already had a job buit I don't want to get the people at the restaurant in trouble and I guess it's for the best. If Vernon and Petunia knew I had a job they'd expect me to give them my wages in return for living in their house and eating the food they give me. He jokingly told me to look him up again when I'm sixteen. Maybe I will, it's interesting work if I can't get an apprenticeship as a chef, and it's outdoors and active. I like seeing the new garden coming together though the landscaper isn't very impressed with Petunia's ideas. He thinks that it's all a little boring not deviating at all from what's in the latest issue of the most popular gardening magazine. She's determined to have a garden that's the best in the street and at the same time perfectly normal in every way. The landscaper told me that she was wasting her money hiring him if she wanted the garden off the magazine cover, the magazine had instructions on how to do it. I told him I'm glad she hired him or she'd be expecting me to produce that exact garden by myself.**_

_**You said something that I can't stop thinking about a couple of letters ago. That if Petunia and Vernon really loved Dudley, they'd limit the amount of sweets and treats they let him eat, and encourage him to eat more healthy foods. At first I thought you were wrong, of course Vernon and Petunia love Dudley, they think he's perfect. Then I started to realise, I'd never thought about it like that, I just thought they spoiled him too much because they loved him but the truth is probably that they buy him so much junk because otherwise he whines about not having enough good things to eat. They do it because it's easier than making him eat healthy. In fact, Petunia feeds me more healthy food than Dudley. That's not really love at all, is it? **_

_**I'm glad things went well with your Aunt Ethel and Uncle Daniel and that they'll help out with your mum. I don't blame her or you for wanting to stay in your home. Your mother might be better looked after at your aunt and uncle's but she'd also lose a lot of the precious memories of you as a family at home. I wouldn't want to leave a place where I was loved and cared for.**_

_**You asked if I thought that you could learn to make deductions like Sherlock Holmes, I think you could. It's just noticing things and counting cards has helped me notice more details of things. The hard part is knowing what the things that you notice mean, and you're already pretty good at that with your mum, just like I am with Petunia, Vernon and Dudley and his friends. I know when they're most likely to hurt me and when I can get away with sneaking food while I cook and when Dudley's friends are going along with him because they think they should and when they're genuinely feeling like helping belt me up. We just need to start learning how to use that with other people.**_

_**Your friend**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_Friday 8/17/90_

_Dear Harry_

_Your summer sounds much busier and more productive than mine, though I have achieved what I needed to. I've been chasing down relatives that we've lost contact with over the years. A lot of them fell out with Mom over the years because of Mom's illness and some because they didn't like William Reid and hadn't heard he'd left us. I've taken your track and stopped calling people who don't want to be related to me by our relationship instead of their name. I think you will guess who William Reid is or used to be to me. Listening to Mom's friends and relatives tell my mother 'I told you so' and the way they refer to me as his son instead of Mom's son, I can understand why Mom didn't want to tell them but I think she should have anyway. They were shocked when I told them how bad her really bad days had gotten when she didn't take her medication and how hard it was sometimes to get her to take them regularly. Mom seems happy to have most of them back in her life, though she is still cross that I called them. _

_Aunt Ethel and Uncle Daniel have visited a few more times and I'm getting to know them better. I've been trying to use deductions on them, which has really only shown me how hard it is. Ethel is Mom's sister and some of there gestures and way of speaking is very alike when Mom's having a better day. She also is an English literature teacher but works part time at a private high school instead of at the university like Mom. She's married to Uncle Travis, turns out that Uncle Daniel is actually her and Mom's cousin, Travis a business man and was away the first time Aunt Ethel came to visit so she brought Cousin Daniel for support, Travis is away for work a lot, I don't remember meeting him before and even now I don't know exactly what he does. They live in a small town just North of Vegas and like I told you wanted Mom and I to move there with them but Mom won't go. I think that Uncle Travis is one of the reason's she didn't agree. He didn't say anything to indicate that we weren't welcome to move in with them but I got the impression that he preferred us not to and was relieved when Mom continued to refuse. _

_Travis has only come once, and seemed to be in a hurry to leave again. I deduced that he was uncomfortable with Mom, perhaps because of her illness or perhaps some other reason because Mom was having a really good day when he was here. I think he might be worried about how observant Mom is. She always deduces me correctly, I can rarely hide anything from her when she's herself. Perhaps there's something shifty or dishonest going on. But I think that I'm guessing, not deducing. He's not having an affair or if he is, then he doesn't feel guilty about it but I'm sure there is something he's trying to hide from us._

_Aunt Ethel has visited a couple of times a week and Uncle Daniel at least once a week also sometimes with Aunt Ethel and sometimes on his own. Neither of them have been around for any of the really bad days yet but Aunt Ethel came one day when Mom was lecturing and she looked so sad. I tried to explain to her that it was okay that Mom was happy teaching her class even if it was just the two of us. It almost helped but then Mom told us off for talking and it was clear she didn't know who either of us was and she got so upset I told her to leave the room before she upset Mom. That Mom would probably lecture for another hour and then hold office hours and she could speak to her then as long as she was prepared to play along. I'm getting more confident that Aunt Ethel and Uncle Daniel will find the time to help Mom but I'm still worried that they won't be able to cope when she has a bad day._

_Mom's best friend Jan owns a shop that sells aromatherapy and crystals and things. She believes in Aura's and fortune tellers and psychic healing. She's also very anti government and I worry that her opinions will set off more of Mom's paranoid delusions about the government spying on her, or that she will try to heal her and make things worse. She was a hippy in her youth and hasn't really grown out of it like most people did. Mom's other best friend, Susan, owns a Bakery, they're almost polar opposites. Susan's very practical and down to earth, and Jan seems flakey and a lot more naïve than she is from the stories they tell. They both live within about an hour from here so I'm surprised I didn't know Susan and Jan before I went looking for someone to help me with Mom's care during the school year. I think that they'll be able to cope with Mom's bad days better than Aunt Ethel but I'm not sure how reliable Jan will be. _

_A third friend, Simon, is a fellow professor from UNLV. I vaguely remember him from when I was very young and Mom was well enough to work. He teaches modern literature and I enjoyed discussing books with him. He's one of those people who spends most of his time working and reading, there really aren't many personality habits to deduce, he has a cat that he's fond of, there were cat hairs in his lap and he's a smoker though not a heavy one, you can smell it but there's not discolouration on his hands and no smoker's wrinkles, and he was with us for a couple of hours without lighting a cigarette or getting agitated like he needed one. He spends a lot of time writing by hand, he has strong pen callouses but the tips of his fingers are soft as if he doesn't spend time typing, and he walks as if his shoes are too small, I can't think why. But where does all that deducing get me? I still can't tell if he's trustworthy to look after Mom while I'm at Caltech._

_Anyhow I think that Mom will now have enough support while I'm away at school though most of her friends oscillate between disbelief that I could really have got into a college as prestigious as Caltech, and disapproval that I'm leaving my mother. I pointed out to them that her needs are never going to change and if I gave in and stayed home with her now I'd be caring for Mom for the rest of my life on a minimum wage because I couldn't afford to go to college without the extremely generous scholarship Caltech has offered me. The best thing I can do is get the best education I can and earn enough to pay for her care in the future if she continues to get worse and needs it. I told them that nobody should really expect a twelve year old to be the primary carer for anyone, I'm still a kid and I deserve to have the chance to be a kid, they're the adults, they should be looking after Mom and me. That shut them up, but I don't think they really changed their opinions of me. It doesn't matter though, they don't have to like me as long as they stay in touch with Mom and support her while I'm at Caltech._

_In response to your question about Petunia and Dudley, I'm sure she does love him. Some parents buy their children too many sweets and takeaways because it's what they were brought up on themselves and they don't know any better, others out of laziness or an inability to afford or to cook healthier foods. Or she is being bullied into it by Dudley and Vernon, and does it to keep the peace as you suggested. I honestly don't think that Petunia can see the harm she is doing him. If she could then she would try to do things differently_

_I wish you were here. _

_Your friend _

_Spencer_.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_** Monday 27/8/90**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**The new garden is finished and it looks like something out of a magazine and totally foreign and not quite right in Privet Drive, but Vernon and Petunia are happy with it thank goodness. I'm back to regular chores and have managed to get to the library and spend a little more time at the restaurant helping out. The new menu's all done and seems to be a success from the amount of salad ingredients and pizza toppings I chopped up last night.**_

_**Don't worry they paid me well for my help, in my favourite pizza and a little cash so I can buy more envelopes and stamps.**_

_**I've been reading more detective stories, Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot stories are really good. They don't call their observations deductions, Miss Marple just predicts how a person reacts from the fact that their behaviour reminds her of someone else's behaviour which is really deductions by a different name. She must have been very observant of everyone around her and have had a great memory for that to work. Hercule Poirot has a sidekick and a tame policeman like Sherlock Holmes, it seems to be a fairly common formula for detective stories to make the police look stupid. Do you think they are? Do you think that they're going to believe all the gossip that I'm a juvenile delinquent?**_

_**I've also started reading myths and old faerie tales too to see if there's anything in them that's like what I can do. I know they're mostly fiction but ideas have still got to come from somewhere. My English teacher says the best stories are written about things you know. There's no point writing about posh rich people if you live in a working-class suburb or vice-versa the a rich person would never be able to write realistically about lifetime poorness, or a city dweller about farm life or living in the bush. So, it's possible some of those stories were written by people that lived with powers like mine.**_

_**I've been practicing deductions too but it is hard to know when your making a genuine deduction and when you're guessing. I deduced that Vernon has something going on at work that he doesn't want Petunia to know about. It's nothing bad, he isn't angry about it but he's going to work about ten minutes early and is about twenty minutes later home. Not late enough to miss dinner but late enough that he doesn't pour himself a whisky before dinner. He's been wearing his better work clothes to work. So there's someone he wants to look nice for but not something formal like a meeting with head office. Like you said about Travis not cheating on your Aunt Ethel, Vernon isn't acting terribly guilty with Petunia but was annoyed and evasive when she asked about his new work habits. So not an affair but perhaps a new pretty colleague he wouldn't mind getting to know a little better. Or a new friend, or he's managing to do something he either shouldn't or that gives him an advantage over someone he sees as a rival. It's not a potential promotion, he would've been boasting about that. Either way he seems happier and less inclined to punishing me, so that's good. I hope whatever it is lasts a long time.**_

_**Petunia doesn't seem to care about whatever it is, or perhaps she hasn't noticed since it's not occurring with the neighbours while she spies on them over the fence. And she hasn't noticed that I'm washing Vernon's favourite shirts much more quickly than normally, or maybe she thinks he's wearing his best work shirts all the time because I am getting them back to him before he has to wear the others. Either way she hasn't said anything about the washing.**_

_**I'm sure Petunia does know better than to feed Dudley all the rubbish he's eating, she doesn't eat it herself and she does try to cook healthy meals when they eat at home. When they take him out either Dudley or Vernon choose the restaurant, and the same with take-aways so that isn't her fault. The sweets and treats in the cupboards all the time is and I think they do it almost as one more thing they can feel good about depriving me of. Every time I see her give him a treat she glances at me and looks a little bit pleased, Dudley does it too, he asks for treats more when he knows I'm around, maybe because he knows he's likely to get more. I think they would have fed and parented Dudley more sensibly if they hadn't taken me in when my parents died. I admit that since I realised it, I have been encouraging her by attempting to look sulky when she glances at me like that. The more sweets he eats the slower he can run to catch me. And the more he wheezes and has to use his puffer which makes his friends stop chasing me too and help him. It does make me feel a little guilty but not enough to want him to be fitter if it means I get hit more.**_

_**It's more than just the food they feed him though. It's the way they let him get away with bullying me and praising him when he passes a test and blaming the teacher or me if he fails, making me do his homework so he doesn't learn the stuff he's supposed to. None of that is being good to Dudley either. It just means that they're making me do my homework even if I don't get to hand it in as my work, I'm still the one learning and practicing. No wonder Dudley's so stupid on the tests and it's so hard to do worse than he does, he's being tested on things he hasn't learned. He's also not learning how to work or to take responsibility for himself, they're teaching him to avoid working and to blame other people for your failures.**_

_**Your friend**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_ Thursday 8/30/90_

_Dear Harry _

_Excuse the jerky writing, I'm currently sitting on a bus on my way to California. The last few days packing have been so hectic and I wanted to spend all my spare time with Mom, but now sitting here I feel like I need the comfort of writing to you. Of knowing that this part of my life is still familiar and available. I keep reminding myself that I chose this and have been dreaming of going to Caltech for years. Honestly, I am looking forward to starting my new classes next week but leaving Mom was heart wrenching. I don't know if it was worse that she was having a good day and understood what was happening or not. She was supportive of me leaving though she had tears in her eyes as she hugged me and made me an unsolicited promise that she would stay on her medication until I come back home. I don't expect she will keep to it more than a week or two unless her family and friends step up like I've begged them to do. I'm afraid I lost my temper at her brother and sister and best friends. They had the gall to tell me that doing all the things I've been doing for Mom for the past twenty months was too much to ask of the four of them between them. I pointed out that I was a child, and they never should have left it to me in the first place but if I could do it so could they and I would never forgive any of them if they didn't get off their asses and actually provide the help they talk so much about giving me to make themselves look good to their friends._

_My scholarship is pretty generous and I've worked out my finances carefully. So long as I use the library rather than buying too many books and don't indulge in too many coffees, I should be able to eat well and afford to catch the bus home every weekend. I don't know for sure whether I'm going to be able to afford the time every week since I've chosen to take a double course load but I'll do my best. I'm looking forward to classes but I'm worried about my classmates and dorm mates. At least in high school I could get away from the bullies. How am I going to sleep if I'm not safe in my own bed. Though they do say Caltech takes its honour code very seriously and will not tolerate bullying. Hopefully they mean it. I hope my room-mate is at least a decent person and isn't too upset with being assigned to share with a twelve year old._

_I don't mind admitting this to you Harry but as excited as I have been about leaving the bullies of Vegas High, I'm absolutely terrified that I'm jumping from the frying pan into the fire. If the students at Caltech, especially the people who live in my dorm are as bad as the bullies I won't have any way to escape them. I'm going to start looking for a new Hideout as soon as I can though I can't help hoping at least a little that I won't need it. _

_You're right about the Dursleys, Harry. None of what they're doing is doing Dudley any good. As amazing as it seems when you consider how horribly they treat you, so long as you're not permanently injured or harmed by not having been fed enough before you found ways to feed yourself they're actually even worse parents to Dudley than they are to you. Though I'm sure they don't mean to be._

_I don't think you need to worry about the police believing that you're a juvenile delinquent. I'm sure the police are not as stupid as detective fiction makes them out to be. They're trained to be pretty good judges of character and not to listen to rumours. Besides, even if the Dursleys try to get you into trouble then I'm sure your friends at the restaurant will set them straight and provide a character witness if you asked them to._

_I hope you are well and your new school year goes well. _

_Your friend_

_Spencer_.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

A/N2: For those of you reading my story "The Last Attempt to Save the Pureblood Lines" Rico Perrien has with my permission written a spin off fic "Grey Against the Dark" I encourage you all to read it.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

A/N: The number of plagiarist profiles in the Harry Potter Fandom is getting out of hand again. I urge all readers before they read a story from an author they haven't known for more than six months to check out their profile to see how long they've existed and to check out the reviews. There are a lot of members out there sick of this issue and are posting reviews that a work has been stolen and where to find the originals.

_Friday 9/7/90_

_Dear Harry _

_Before I get side-tracked, I enclose my new address. _

_Spencer Reid_

_Dabney House, Room 47_

_Caltech_

_1200 E. California Blvd.  
Pasadena CA 91126_

_I'm sorry it took so long, they don't assign permanent housing for the first week, usually two. In my case it was quicker than normal because only a few of the houses were willing to have a student so underaged._

_Caltech is wonderful. I've survived my first week of classes without being injured and I've even made a friend. His name is Ethan he's just over two years older than me having just turned fifteen, and he says we should stick together because we're the only two underage freshmen in STEM courses this year. He's my roommate for that reason too. He's intelligent and I deduce that he will be very competitive about grades, but he hasn't said anything negative about me being younger, smaller or weirder than he is. Our dorm room is comfortable with two desks and bookshelves so we don't have to share, and two beds and wardrobes and stuff as well. The other students on our floor have been friendly enough so far though they're not making much effort to get to know us, which to be fair I haven't made much effort to interact with them either. Distant tolerance is all I hoped for from them and I have that, I don't want to risk it by trying for more and letting them see how weird I am._

_Classes are fantastic, I'm learning so much and it's so great not having the teacher have to stop midway through an idea to discipline the class and lose their train of thought. The professors are all so knowledgeable and seem to enjoy teaching their subject and so far they've been happy for me to ask questions too, instead of getting irritated at me. I'm not the only one asking intelligent questions either, and the other students listen to my questions and a lot of them write down the answers which makes me feel safe asking. Even the humanities class I'm only taking to meet the requirements for my degree is interesting. I'm cheating a bit taking psychology which is more of a soft science than a humanity subject, though the university counts it as meeting one of the humanities requirements. Ethan chose to take musical history for his humanity, he plays several instruments and thought it would suit him. I must admit I picked up his readings for class for this month the other day and it was quite interesting, about the historical and political influences on the most famous composers through the eighteenth century._

_I still miss Mom, especially in the evenings. I have to admit though it's nice to get home from classes and not have to prepare myself for whatever I'm walking into, or worried about my things being destroyed. I tried to call her midweek bit she wouldn't come to the phone, she's never trusted telephones. Luckily Aunt Ethel was there and able to tell me she was okay and has been taking her medications and getting up and dressed every day. I write to her every day but she hasn't yet written back. Hopefully she will soon. I'm on the train home to visit her as I write, Ethan thinks I'm mad going home to visit so soon and I don't want to explain to him why. I feel guilty about keeping Mom a secret. I'm not ashamed of her but life is easier when people don't know, it's bad enough being the perpetual baby of the class without being the kid with the crazy mother. Does that make me a bad son? _

_I am ashamed to admit, even to you that already knows my trick how to cheat the casinos out of free food, that I am continuing with my petty criminal activities. I overheard one of the girls at school talking about how easy it is to catch a train without buying a ticket if you look like a kid. Then if the conductor does catch you, you tell them you were running late for the train and ask to buy a ticket telling them you got on at the most recent stop. I was a bit hesitant because the train ticket costs more than the bus and it would blow my budget if I had to purchase a ticket too early but she was right I'm already nearly half way home and I haven't been caught yet and the train is much more comfortable than the bus and I've been able to get a lot more work done on it too. I expect it will only work if there's a different conductor Sunday night, because if I get caught today they'll remember where I got off on Friday. I know that' it is sort of stealing a ride but it's not costing the train company anything for me to be here, and it's not like I'm depriving them of the fare because I wouldn't have caught the train at all if I had to pay and there's plenty of other empty seats. There's a school group about my age and I'm sitting near enough to look like I'm with them. Ethan's talking about buying a motorbike and a full face helmet, he said that would be a good way to get around the fact we both look too young to drive a car. He says he'll teach me to ride but I can barely even ride a bicycle so I'm more than a little apprehensive about the idea and getting caught riding on the road without a licence would be a lot more serious than getting caught without a ticket on the train._

_Part of me wishes I could somehow move Mom to California so I could go to school here and live with her and look after her but it isn't possible. She doesn't like to be away from home and her familiar things. Not to mention how much trouble we had trying to find a doctor she would trust and how hard it was while she was refusing to take her medications during that time. The other part of me feels guilty that I'm glad she isn't here, that I can make friends without wondering what they'd think of her, and concentrate on my studies without being worried that I'll get home and find she's destroyed my computer because she thought the government was using it to spy on her. I still worry that she's not eating properly or going to hurt herself or burn down the house. But then I remind myself that it's not my responsibility at the moment and there's nothing I can do about it from California, even if I went to UNLV she could still do those things while I'm away attending class or sleeping. I feel selfish not being there. I know you're right when you say that my relatives should have been helping all along and that I'm not even thirteen yet and it's not selfish to want to be a kid for a while longer, but it still feels like I'm letting Mom down._

_Sorry this letter has been all about me, I hope I haven't bored you, I just had so many good things and worries I wanted to share with you. Writing to you always makes me feel better. I hope things are still going well for you. _

_Your friend _

_Spencer_

A/N2: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**You're the best son I know, nobody else I know would do half as much for their mother as you've done for yours for years now. Dudley doesn't do anything at all for Aunt Petunia, not even use manners that he's been taught when he's well aware it makes her unhappy when he speaks to her like that, and from what I've seen, none of his friends are any better. I know it was hard for you to leave her care to others particularly since they were the people that should've been looking after you both all along and have failed you. But you would have been mad to let the opportunity to attend Caltech go, it's the school of your dreams, the one place you're going to meet likeminded people and make use of that incredible brain of yours to its full capacity. Your mother would have been very upset if she'd ever realised that her condition had prevented your dreams coming true.**_

_**Caltech sounds amazing for you! I'm glad you are enjoying your new school and have made friends with your roommate. Gladder still that you still want to be friends with me too, and that you're safe there and among people who love learning the way you do.**_

_**School here is much the same as last year, though finally I'm not in the same class as Dudley this year, or any of his gang which is great but surprising. I thought they'd want to split them up. I don't know why the teachers decided not to divide the class by grades this year, but the teacher I have is one who I had not last year the year before so she already thinks I'm a deadbeat. Maybe one of the teachers has noticed the bullying and is trying to prevent it, because most of the other kids they pick on when they can't find me are also in my class. The rest of the class seems content just to ignore me for now. I still have to take my marks home for Aunt Petunia to sign though so I can't do well on tests but I am making sure I learn the work. I am spending a lot of time in the library reading again though and the librarian is starting to act less suspicious and more friendly, and I've been reading up on chemistry in the town library so I know a bit about what you're learning, thought only on the most basic level. Don't feel guilty about that too though, I'm finding it fascinating.**_

_**I read about a heap of other things too this summer history and geography, foreign cultures and astronomy and all about NASA and the Apollo space program and the probes sent to Mars which all sounds beyond incredible and exciting, I am looking forward to next year when Dudley and I will be going to different schools. Dudley is going to Uncle Vernon's old boarding school 'Smeltings' and I will go to 'Stonewall High' the local comprehensive, unfortunately I'll still be with Dudley's gang and most of the rest of the kids from our primary school but there are four other primary schools that's students will also go there so without Dudley there I should be able to make some friends and I also should be able to try to do well in class, so long as I bomb the end of term exams and don't turn in half my homework. I know you think I should do as well as I can but there's no real point. I won't be able to go to university, even if I got a scholarship the Dursleys will never support me that long and I'm not smart enough to get a full ride scholarship like you, so I thought I'm good at cooking and gardening and reasonable at fixing stuff. If I take mostly vocational subjects I could try for an apprenticeship as soon as I'm old enough. I can always go back to school and get my O levels later if I want to.**_

_**Petunia seems to have finally noticed that something is up with Vernon about two weeks ago and she's not happy about it. She hasn't confronted him but she's cooking meals she knows he doesn't really like all that much, extra vegetables and Spaghetti and Curries things other than good old fashion British foods and the laundry hamper is always full of her and Dudley's clothing, even my stuff and she's giving me a lot of other tasks to do so she's washing his shirts, or rather making sure they're not washed as quickly as they could be. He's noticed, but he hasn't said anything either in fact he looked a bit shamed by it when she frowned at him at dinner last night. I find it amusing that he's being punished and Petunia is unknowingly punishing Dudley as well since his taste in meals is so similar to Vernon's.**_

_**One thing about returning to school was a disappointment though, I really felt that I'd grown this summer, having enough to eat most of the time and stuff. I've even put on some weight and feel stronger, but everyone else seems to have grown just as much if not more and I'm still the smallest in my year.**_

_**I'm glad to hear you're happy!**_

_**Your friend**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_Dear Harry_

_Thank you for your support about Mom and going to Caltech, it did make me feel better to hear someone I trust's opinion. I know it myself that Mom would want me to go to Caltech it's just that I've taken care of her for so long that it feels like it should be my responsibility and it's so easy to fall into feeling guilty for abandoning her and none of her friends and relatives make me feel any better about it. They act like they don't mind helping out but then criticise me for leaving which is the only reason Mom and I need the help. It doesn't help that I'm not at all confident they won't decide that it's too much effort or too difficult when she goes through a really bad patch. If her friends are telling me the truth, and there's no reason to believe that they're not, she's only had a few mildly bad days so far._

_Are you really enjoying reading about Chemistry? And not just for my sake? You don't need to learn things to impress me, just be yourself and read what you're interested in, I'll be interested in hearing whatever you've been learning. You won't start to study Chemistry in class until next year I think and if you read too far ahead you run the risk of being bored in class. What else have you been reading or researching lately?_

_It's great that you're not sharing a class with Dudley this year, and I know you can't seem to have improved on your report card. I would've suggested that you learn to forge your Aunts signature but I guess that won't work if she signs Dudley's report card she will know that you have yours to be signed too. However, having to get a bad end of term report doesn't mean you shouldn't do your classwork as well as you can, and try to get to know your classmates. Hopefully they will be willing to at least be friendly in the classroom where they're safe from Dudley's notice and retaliation. And that your teacher will notice the improvement in your attitude in the classroom and take you seriously if you do explain why you can't receive good grades._

_I'm still loving everything about Caltech. The classes are still fascinating and the lecturers are so knowledgeable in their fields, it's a real privilege to be learning from them. They're moving at a much faster pace than high school so I don't have the time to get far enough ahead to be bored with the material. The houses have a reputation for pranking each other but it's mostly one whole house pranked by another, it's never personal. I haven't been caught up in a prank yet thank goodness but I'm sure I will be eventually. I am slowly getting to know the other students in my house and the students in my labs and tutorial groups. So far everyone's been curious how I could be here so young and I occasionally deduce a little jealousy in their reaction to my explanations but nobody has acted on it. In fact, I'm highly sought after as a lab partner even after I made it clear that I would not be doing my partner's work for them. Many of the others feel the same as me that they don't want to carry someone like they did at high school and the figure that I'm a good candidate for wanting to do my own work as well as not having the ability to bully anyone into doing it for me._

_Ethan and I are getting along well for the most part. He has an electronic keyboard that he sometimes spends half the night playing. He's considerate about using his headphones with it so I can barely hear the music but the clicking of the keys can be disruptive if I'm trying to sleep. I don't think he realises and it's not a loud sound, most people wouldn't have too much trouble with it. It's odd sharing a room. I've never wanted to. I always felt safer by myself, even with Mom since I never could predict how she'd be when she woke up. The only person I truly felt safe sleeping with is you. So it took a while to feel safe enough to sleep and I'm still having some trouble with it when I know Ethan's not sleeping. The other students on our floor are friendly towards the two of us and invite us to some of the activities that occur during the day. I'm not sure if they think we're young enough to still need a curfew and bedtime or they're trying to keep us away from seeing the behaviour that occurs after a couple of hours drinking alcohol._

_I'm glad you feel fitter and stronger and I'm sure you have grown as much as would be normal for you at your age and as much as the others this summer but you cannot expect so many years of near starvation to be caught up with less than a year of eating properly. I'm sure that with another year or two you will start to really catch up with the height you should have been but remember also that you have no idea how tall your father was._

_I laughed at the idea of Vernon and Dudley getting all their least favourite foods every night. Do you have any idea what he's done to not only be getting this treatment but accepting it without a single argument. Well at least at the time, it's possible they argued behind closed doors or when they knew you and Dudley were both out of the house. I hope it continues as long as they're not making you suffer for Vernon's wrongdoings._

_Your friend_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Harry staggered out of his cupboard, already magically exhausted from the effort and gratefully used the key in the sideboard to unlock the front door, limping away from the house as quickly as he could. He wondered what the time was but hadn't had the energy to waste walking into the kitchen to see the clock. The streets were dark and deserted but that didn't mean much in a suburb like Little Whinging so sometime between nine in the evening and five in the morning was his best guess. Passing a letter box he dropped in his most recent letter to Spencer, leaning on it for support for a moment and wishing he could find a stick to lean on but the tidy little gardens of the housing estate didn't have any obliging trees big enough. Only little stunted things, it seemed that even trees didn't want to live in west Little Whinging.

Finally he staggered up the steps of the Little Whinging police station, alarming the young constable at the desk. "I'd like to report child abuse and request to be placed into foster care," he said hoarsly.

The constable pushed the button to call for extra assistance and came through to the waiting area to support the child who looked about to fall on the ground. Careful to take note of where he touched the child he led him through into the sickbay area and helped him onto the bed. He spoke briefly to the senior constable who answered his summons for assistance before calling a doctor and crime scene technicians.

"He's seriously injured and he says his uncle did it. He lives with them in Privet Drive," the junior constable reported.

Taking over Senior Constable Jones obtained an address from the now sleeping boys backpack and sent the sent the crime scene techs with backup to asses the house for a possible scene of the assault. "I don't have high hopes for the crime scene not being thoroughly cleaned up by now, the injuries don't look new but he must have been somewhere, look for signs that he was being locked in."

-o0o-

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**Sorry I haven't written for a while but I've been locked up in the cupboard injured for the last four days. For some reason my ability to unlock the cupboard door wasn't working until today. Perhaps I was too injured for it to work or that the power was too busy trying to heal me. That didn't work either, I'm still really hurt and I can barely walk. **_

_**I'm on my way to the police station to make a complaint about the Dursleys and to ask to be put into foster care. You were right, I'm not safe at the Dursleys anymore. Vernon knocked me down and kicked me. I could hear my ribs breaking, then he kicked me in the head and I lost consciousness. The next thing I knew I was lying in my cupboard and the back of my head was all sticky with blood and I'd pissed my pants, probably more than once from the smell so I'd been unconscious for quite a while. I tried to heal myself and it didn't work, then I tried to unlock the cupboard since it was dark outside I figured it would be safe but that didn't work either, I just tired myself out and fell asleep and the next think I knew it was day time and I could hear Dudley jumping on the steps over my head. I kept trying to heal myself enough to be able to make a run for it and my breathing got easier but the pain didn't go away, and he must have kicked my legs while I was unconscious because my right knee was so swollen it actually fills Dudley's trousers tightly. I started writing this letter so I could send it to you on my way to get help and kept trying to open the door every time that I knew it was late at night or nobody was home and finally I got it open. So I'm finishing this quickly before I go.**_

_**I am afraid to telephone for an ambulance from here. If Vernon were to hear me I would be dead before help arrived. If I could trust someone to call the police or an ambulance for me, I would knock on their door but the police station is closer than the restaurant and I can't trust anyone else. I hope I make it but I guess if I don't someone will find me unconscious on the street and hopefully call an ambulance. I think I'm going to be in hospital for a while but I'll write and let you know how I'm doing when I can.**_

_**Your friend**_

_**Harry**_

Spencer read the letter in horror, sorrow and guilt, but once he had time to think about it, he wasn't truly surprised that Vernon had been so violent. He felt that he should have tried harder to get Harry away from his relatives, perhaps even convinced him to go to the police while he was with him in Vegas so he'd be placed somewhere in the area and he could have kept an eye on him.

He paced around his room agitatedly until Ethan grumpily asked him what was wrong. He was so worried about Harry's well-being that it didn't even occur to him until after he started to write back to him that he had no idea where Harry would be living, or when he'd be able to get back to the restaurant to get his letters. Sighing he decided to write anyway, knowing this was more an emotional need to reach out to his best friend than a logical decision. He wondered if Harry would still be in hospital and if so whether the Little Whinging police station would tell him which hospital Harry had been sent to. Collecting his weeks' worth of coffee money, he went down to the payphone and attempted to call them.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Harry dragged himself to the restaurant tiredly. He didn't think that he was well enough to do much for them but he'd been sick for a week or more so he was hoping they hadn't worried too much about his absence, and thought he'd better go and show them he was okay. Some extra food might make him feel better too though Petunia had been letting him eat more of what the family was eating she was back to making all of Dudley's and Vernon's favourites and Harry was having trouble stomaching the highly fatty food. He didn't have much of an appetite since being ill either and had visibly lost weight again. He wondered if that was what was making his power thing feel so weak.

Harry was surprised to receive a letter from Spencer, it was his turn to write and he knew he'd been about to before he became sick but he didn't think it had been long enough since he'd written to worry the older boy though time had got away from his while he'd been ill, he hoped nothing bad had happened to Spencer, and worried about his friend he ripped open the letter right there in the restaurant instead of waiting until he was alone like he usually did.

_Monday 10/22/90_

_Dear Harry_

_Oh my God!_

_I had hoped I was wrong about the Dursleys but I'm so glad that you've got out of there finally. I'm proud of you for getting out and going for help. I hope you're okay now and that your new home is safer than the Dursleys._

_I really hope you get this letter eventually, that your friends in the restaurant will bring it to you or that if you don't get this you send me your new address so we can stay in touch. I debated sending a letter to the manager of the restaurant telling them that you'd been injured and were on your way to hospital and foster care and asking them to look for you and let me know how and where you were. If you don't reply to this within two weeks, I will do that. I don't want to lose touch with you and I'm not sure you will have been able to get your things back from the Dursleys before they destroyed our letters and my address. I tried to ring the Little Whinging police station and the local hospital but neither of them would tell me anything. Not even that you were still alive. They were quite rude about it, but I guess they were just trying to protect you._

_How are you now? How long were you in hospital? Were any of your injuries permanent? Have they allocated you a new place to stay yet or are you still in temporary accommodation? Please write back as soon as you can even if it's just a note that you're all right and where to contact you._

_Your friend _

_Spencer_.

Harry readSpencer's letter in confusion, it just didn't make sense. Why would Spencer think he'd been in hospital, he had written that he'd been ill in the letter he was writing but it wasn't finished yet, he hoped to have it finished tonight to send tomorrow, and what was he asking about injuries? He wasn't injured he'd had a fever. Not to mention Spencer thought he'd left the Dursleys, he didn't like living there but they'd been a bit better than usual lately, hadn't they? Didn't he tell Spencer that? He read it again then pulled out paper and a pen to write back immediately, worried about his friend but also concerned that something odd was going on. He'd had some dreams of running away while he was sick but surely he hadn't been able to get out of his cupboard and write to Spencer that he had while he wasn't well enough to tell dreams from reality. He'd never had problems with sleepwalking before, had he? Not that he could have gone anywhere while locked in. Or is that why the Dursleys had originally put the lock on the cupboard door? Regardless they would've locked it while he was ill, they always told him that they didn't want him out of the cupboard spreading his germs to normal people. He couldn't have got out to post a letter, he didn't remember leaving the cupboard even if he was able to sleep walk, to sleep write a letter and then to use his power to open the cupboard door took concentration, he couldn't have done it.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter 36**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Spencer had no luck trying to find news from the officials in little whinging. He anxiously checked his mailbox a couple of times a day looking for a letter from Harry. He was preparing to write to the restaurant where he used to send Harry's letters asking if they knew anything about where Harry had been taken and if he'd recovered or was still in the hospital after being injured by his uncle.

Finally, there was a letter and he hurried up to his room to read it in safety, some habits died hard in spite of the lack of bullying in the dorms he still didn't want to risk his relationship with Harry becoming known. People wouldn't understand.

_**Thursday 25/10/90**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**Sorry I haven't written but I've had the flu, to be honest I don't know that it was actually the real influenza but I certainly felt horrible and I had a high fever and couldn't do anything. Petunia even threw some paracetamol in with me when she locked me in with a bucket and told me to stay there till I wasn't infectious. Actually, I don't remember that clearly but that's what she always says so I suppose she said it. She definitely left me locked up without checking on me for days. Sometimes I wonder if they want me to choke on my own vomit and die, and then I wonder how they're going to explain a three or four day old body if I do. It's a bit morbid I know but **_

_**I'm starting to feel better but Petunia has obviously forgiven Vernon and is making all his favourite foods to make it up to him for her earlier reaction. I still don't know what it was he did but since I got well enough to want to eat again all she's cooked is fried food and it's making my stomach squirm just smelling it, so I've been living of fruit and plain toast. I'm going to try to get to the restaurant tomorrow for something decent.**_

_**Friday 26/10/90**_

_**I just got your last letter and I have to admit that I don't know what you're talking about. Why are you so proud of me and why did you think I'd been hurt or might not I be able to get your letters from the restaurant anymore? Or that I would be living somewhere else?**_

_**Did something happen that I don't remember? Or did you perhaps have a very vivid dream about something? I've had some weird dreams lately but I read that that can be normal with a fever. I dreamed of running away and of being hurt by a monster and being unable to move. I don't think that I could have sleepwalked and written you a letter about my dream while I was still asleep.**_

_**As far as I can remember nothing exciting has happened here since I wrote a few weeks ago. I had a week off sick with the flu and I'm okay now but I still feel a little lacking in energy. Both regular energy and my power stuff. I feel like I used it too much and it's much slower to build back up than it has been in a long time, though I can't remember using it. I can't unlock the door or repair things anymore and if I try to make light it's really feeble and wears me out. I thought that it was a side effect of being sick and I've been avoiding using it hoping that it will get better with some rest, but if I sent you a letter telling you something else, I don't remember what happened. Please tell me what's going on. I'm really worried now.**_

_**I can't have got you sick via letter, could I? And given you fever dreams? I was feeling okay for a couple of weeks after I wrote to you last. I didn't get sick until after I got your letter. We couldn't have had the same dream could we? That's crazy!**_

_**Your friend **_

_**Harry.**_

Spencer opened the letter and read it though at first in shock and then later with resignation. He believed harry straight away and was fairly sure that he hadn't been sleepwalking and writing letters in his sleep. He got out the letter that started this all and read it though again looking for clues whether it was genuine. He believed that Harry had been telling the truth and had been injured and tried to go to the police for help. He believed that someone had interfered with Harry's memories. Harry had told him that he thought it had happened before they met, when everyone seemed to forget the times he'd done something unexplainable. He believed it but now he had to find a way to prove it to Harry. It was definitely in Harry's handwriting there was no doubt about that though the end was messier than his letters usually were. And there were a couple of brown stains on the paper and envelope. He'd worried at the time that they were blood, which would indicate he had really been injured not sleepwalking. There had to be a way to test for blood which did not involve taking to the police and asking them to do it.

Spencer quickly looked up the chemicals they used to test for blood at crime scenes. Phenolphthalein powder, sodium hydroxide, distilled water, zinc, and 70% ethanol, he could get all those things in the lab. He jotted down the instructions and went off to talk to his faculty advisor, who indulged him and allowed him to conduct an experiment testing for blood. He had to bleed a little for the control samples but once he'd checked that it worked consistently, he tested all the stains on the letter and they all came back positive for blood.

He sighed. It was true. Harry had escaped from the abuse and on his way to the police to ask for help and somehow had been made to forget being badly injured by his uncle and was returned to the house. He should have known that if someone was allowing that level of abuse to happen to Harry and had somehow set up that house to weaken his powers so he couldn't protect himself, that they'd insist on him staying there. The only surprise was how far they'd gone to achieve it, but maybe he shouldn't be surprised at that either. If they were capable of taking away Harry's memories there was no telling how many times they'd done this in the past. He thought for a moment how to get Harry to believe the horrible truth then realised the only way was for Harry to tell himself in his own writing. He found Harry's previous letter and took to the library to make a copy.

Thank heavens Harry had been able to get that letter to him the night he left the Dursleys and that he hadn't waited for Harry to contact him again before writing or he might never have realised that Harry had no memories of the incident, and they might have almost lost touch due to the increased gap between letters.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Harry was grateful to get a letter back from Spencer so soon, he must have written it straight away, and it was a big bulky letter too. He tore open the envelope and was surprised to find a second envelope inside, this one with a warning on it not to open it anywhere he could be seen or observed, or at the Dursleys.

Unsure about why Spencer had asked this, but willing to trust his friend had a good reason, he asked to use the staff bathroom at the restaurant and opened the letter there. There was a letter from Spencer and an opened envelope addressed to Spencer in his own handwriting, probably containing the letter he'd written to him to make him write such a confusing letter last time. He opened the letter from Spencer first, needing to know that his friend was okay and hadn't been affected by whatever had made him and the Dursleys forget what had happened and hoping Spencer believed him when he said he didn't remember anything unusual happening no matter what he might have written, before he worried about what he'd actually written to Spencer while he was sick, or before his memories had been altered.

_Thursday 11/1/90_

_Dear Harry _

_I don't know how to tell you what happened to make me send you my last letter that confused you so much except to send you a photocopy of the letter I received from you on 10/22/90 so you can read for yourself what you wrote that day. I don't want to send the original in case something happens and I need it to send to you again. I really don't believe that this was a dream Harry, the stains on the letter are the color of blood on the original. They are blood. My advisor helped me to access the chemicals needed and set up an experiment to test it. Of course, I couldn't test whether the blood was yours or not but it was on the letter and the inside and outside of the envelope so who else's blood could it be? You were injured when you wrote that letter, not just sleepwalking or dreaming._

_You wrote me that you'd left the Dursleys and were heading to the police station when you posted it so I don't know what happened after that. Whether you made it to the police station or whether you passed out in the street on the way like you were afraid of. Do you remember any of it?_

_I'm glad that you managed to post the letter otherwise I wouldn't have known anything about it either, and you'd have forgotten the beating and the attempt to leave the Dursleys go to the police, forever. Maybe that would've been better for you, or safer somehow if someone is watching to make sure you don't remember or try to leave again, but on the other hand I always believe it is beneficial to know the truth, and possibly safer as well to know what Vernon Dursley is capable of if you anger him and that someone with powers similar to yours is watching you and letting Vernon and Dudley hurt you, or at least not doing much to stop it and preventing you from getting away safely._

_It worries me greatly that someone made you forget being attacked, and for them to return you to an abusive situation is terrible. It has to be someone who has the powers you do to make you forget like that, I suppose we should at least be grateful that they healed your injuries before forcing you back into that house, but whoever did this has to be considered your enemy Harry, no matter what reasons they have for doing it. _

_I don't know how you're going to find out who they are but if you ever do meet other people like you then you need to be careful. You'll have to remember that not all of them will mean you well, and it might be difficult to know their real motives since they're capable of altering memories. I wonder if there is a way to protect your mind from having your memories altered without your permission? _

_One other thought, if they were able to take your memories and the Dursleys' and heal all your wounds, could they have also done something to your powers to stop you from being able to open the door and run away again? Have you concentrated to see if they're still building up like they used to while you're away from the Dursleys' house._

_I know that you will be angry and frightened to read these letters and find out what happened to you, but Harry, it's really very important that you don't show a reaction in case someone is watching you. You mustn't let them know you know what happened. Or they might have another go at making you forget._

_Please be careful with the Dursleys, I don't want you to be hurt again._

_Your true friend_

_Spencer_

Spencer was disappointed not to have received anything from Harry on his birthday but supposed he could excuse Harry missing it with all that had happened. Even he was preoccupied with worry over what was happening to Harry, and whether he was safe enough, he couldn't blame Harry for not thinking of things like other people's birthdays. And the original assault was probably just before Harry would've needed to send a card or letter to arrive on his birthday.

Still, he had a very lonely birthday. He hadn't told Ethan or any of his other new acquaintances when his birthday was, so he couldn't expect any of them to say anything. His Mom hadn't sent him anything either, not that he really expected her to be organised enough to, and unfortunately, she was having a bad day and wouldn't come to the phone when he tried to call her so he didn't even get to speak to her and he couldn't call Harry, he'd told him that he wouldn't be allowed to come to the phone and he didn't want to draw attention to their friendship.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter 38**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Harry read through Spencer's letter and then his own letter that Spencer had sent back to him, trembling with fear. Vernon had nearly killed him and someone had wiped his memories of the attack and sent him back to the Dursleys for it to happen again. Worse his magic was weak and wouldn't help him again next time, he would probably die.

'I have to leave, get away,' he thought panicked. But then he remembered Spencer's warning, whoever did this might be watching him, and if he tried to run away he might be made to forget again, and then would Spencer know he'd forgotten and tell him again, or would he perhaps think it might be safer for Harry not to know. Worse what if the person watching made him forget the restaurant and the letters from Spencer entirely. Spencer would keep writing and the staff would keep the letters for him but if he didn't remember them he wouldn't come to get them and the staff wouldn't know where to look for him if they tried they might be made to forget him too. Or worse what if whoever did this found out about Spencer and wiped away all his memories of Harry, would that even work with a memory like Spencer's, or would it harm him.

He tried to concentrate to see what was going on with his magic now he was away from the house but he was still panicking too much to feel it, which made him panic even more. What if they'd dome something not to the house this time but to him to permanently weaken his power.

After half an hour the staff remembered Harry and came to see if he was okay, since he'd already told them about being ill the other week and he still wasn't looking well. He hid the letters in his pocket, assured them that he was fine and made a valiant attempt to eat the meal they provided him in spite of the fear churning in his stomach.

He left and stopped at the town library and locked himself in the loo there to write his letter, putting it in the letterbox on his way home. Once he was home he dropped off his things in his cupboard, hiding the recent letter from Spencer and wondering if all this has truly been necessary. He hadn't seen anybody watching him and even that night they hadn't tried to stop him from sending that letter to Spencer.

_**Friday 9/11/90**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**No! I don't remember being hurt or leaving the Dursleys or writing that letter other than vaguely as if I'd dreamt it. Even reading it, it doesn't seem like I could have written it though it is clearly my handwriting and I know you would never play such a horrible prank on anybody let alone me. I have no idea if I made it to the police station or if I was stopped along the road, my dream was about getting out of the house, not what I did afterwards. I do know that I missed the last few days of school and at least half the midterm break, though I don't really have any clear memories of the week I was sick, I was told that I'd been ill and just assumed I slept most of the week. I don't have any bruises or scars that would match the injuries I described to you and I should at least have a scar where my rib came through the skin if nothing else. There's nothing there. No tenderness on the back of my head and my knee is working perfectly again too and it matches the other one, there's no evidence that I was injured at all. Just like when I healed the burns on your back.**_

_**I didn't even remember subconsciously that I wasn't safe here, in fact, until I got your last letter asking all those questions that made me think that I'd forgotten something important, I felt safer here than I had in a long time. Whether that's because Vernon has been calmer since my return or whether those feelings have been magically influenced I don't know. In my dreams it wasn't Vernon or Dudley who attacked me, it was a monster I met out on the street after I ran away. A real monster, not a man at all. Someone clearly wants me to be afraid of either being outside at night or of running away from the Dursleys.**_

_**Spencer I'm scared! Not of the monster of my dreams, I know it wasn't real. Or at least I don't think it was. Who would take away my memories and put me back at the Dursleys? And why? Do they want the Dursleys to kill me? Thank goodness I wrote to you and posted it before I got caught and sent back. **_

_**The Dursleys don't seem to remember what happened either but they have been leaving me alone again. Even Dudley isn't trying to hurt me unless his friend Piers is there egging him on. It's as if whoever put me back here and made me forget leaving also made them back off a bit. Perhaps they don't want the Dursleys to kill me but why do they want to keep me here with these abusive idiots. Don't I deserve to have a proper home? Do you think that they want me to stay here with the Dursleys because whatever I have that makes things happen is weaker when I'm inside their house? Or have they done something to this house to make my power weaker while I'm here? That seems to be a better reason why I'm weaker here now than ever before. And if someone has done it deliberately why make me weaker. Is it to avoid attention so I don't blow something big up and end up on the news, or to make the Dursleys more comfortable having me around since they've never liked when I did my 'freaky stuff'. Or does this person mean me harm. Do they want to keep me weak so I cant leave and look after myself?**_

_**I did try to feel the feeling of my powers increasing when I was away from the house and it doesn't happen anymore while I'm at school or the park near Privet Drive but it does still start growing if I spend enough time at the town library or the restaurant or anywhere else outside of the neighbourhood of Privet Drive and the school. You're right that someone has done this to me deliberately. It kind of makes sense that they must have realised that I used my powers to get out of the cupboard and are trying to make sure I can't get out again, but are they also trying to stop me from being able to protect myself or heal myself so next time I get beaten that badly I will die.**_

_**Spencer, do you think that this could've happened before? That I could've tried to leave the Dursleys before this or that someone else did go to the police about me being hurt in the past and we were all made to forget? Maybe that is why there's something in the house to limit my powers because I've used them to run away before and they don't want me to think I can leave and look after myself. Also, if someone is messing with other people's memories then perhaps my teachers or the school nurse, or even Mrs Figg or the neighbours have tried to help me in the past. Is it possible that they don't dislike and distrust me because of the Dursleys but because someone mucked around with their memories too?**_

_**I really want to know how the person who did this found out that I was leaving. Am I being watched? I haven't noticed anyone watching but if they can make me forget leaving that night then perhaps I have noticed them and they took away those memories too.**_

_**Part of me wants to run away again. Not to go to the police but just to leave, try to make my way to you in California. To see if I can get away if I don't ask anyone for help. I wonder if I actually got to the police station that night or whether they found me first? And if I did get to the police station did they wipe their memories too or did the police just hand me over to someone claiming to be my guardian. Did they see me leave? Did they stop me because I was out late at night or because I was limping and injured? I want to know how they caught me.**_

_**There's also something else strange about the Dursleys' house. When I'm there I feel like I'm safe there, which we both know I'm probably not, and I don't think about running away or wanting to leave, and when I'm at school all I want is to go back to the Dursleys but at the library or at the restaurant running away is nearly on my mind all the time. It's a struggle to go out the other gate to get to the restaurant, every time now. I'm not even sure I could pack up my things and take them with me. I wish we had lockers that locked at school or better yet at the library. Then I could at least try to move the things I want there. I'm sure the restaurant would give me a corner in their storeroom to keep a bag.**_

_**If I simply packed the stuff I want to keep in my school bag and left from the school. I could go in one gate and out the other and catch a train to London. The problem is that I can plan to do this while I'm at the public library but once I get back to the Dursleys to pack I won't want to. I'll probably need to decide to leave from the restaurant or the library so I can leave without wanting to go back to the Dursleys. If I go I'll send you notes along the way as often as I can, so you can tell me about it if they make me forget again. I want to leave but if they're capable of all this then maybe they're capable of something that makes them able to find me no matter where I go and things might be even worse if that happens.**_

_**Your friend**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Spencer read through Harry's letter frowning. The only positive thing about it was that Harry believed him. The other information in the letter was more alarming. Someone had done something to Harry's mind to make him want to stay with the Dursleys or at least to make him want to stay there while he was there and return there from school. Or had they only strengthened the compulsion that was already there. It had never made a lot of sense to Spencer why Harry had been so resistant to the idea of leaving or reporting his relatives to child protection or the police before this. Of course, there was the possibility that he had tried both, and everyone had been made to forget it like this time but Harry had argued with him every time he'd encouraged him to seek help. Had that also been because someone was messing with his free will and when they realised Harry had left anyway they'd made the desire to stay much stronger.

_Thursday 11/15/90_

_Dear Harry, _

_Please do not do anything too hasty. You know I want you to be out of that house before they hurt you again and I understand that having made up your mind to leave you want to be gone as soon as possible, but I'm worried that they'll be watching you closely for a while after last time._

_One of the other things that worries me about what happened the night you ran away is that they healed you. Don't get me wrong I am very glad that you were healed. But whoever is doing this didn't come to the Dursleys and heal you when you were first injured, as far as we know they didn't question your disappearance for the time you were locked in the cupboard with what sounded to me from your description like it might have been a punctured lung. You very nearly died, it's almost a miracle that you didn't and they didn't do anything until you tried to run away. If you haven't tried you would have been left locked in the cupboard at risk of developing sepsis or half a dozen other complications. If they were watching you closely enough to return you to the Dursleys the day you ran away then why didn't they step in to heal you when you were first injured. Surely if there is some way of tracking a person's location there should also be a way of telling when they've been mortally injured. I'm afraid that it's possible they only healed you so that they could make you forget the assault, there would've been no point making you forget trying to leave the Dursleys or the assault, if you woke up the next morning still beaten black and blue with a punctured lung and a badly injured knee. You wouldn't remember the details but you'd still have known that Vernon or Dudley had done it, and you'd still have tried to leave again, even without me telling you about the letter that you'd written to me._

_If I were you, I would wait a month or two or better yet until after the weather starts to warm up. If you get far enough away then you could make up a name and get yourself found living on the streets by the police, claim that your parents have recently been killed. You'd be better off in one of the smaller rural cities than in London. Use a simple, really common name like John Brown or Robert Jones, not John Smith that would be suspicious but a name too common for them to chase down every potential parent in the area._

_I wish that you could come here and I would love to have you, even if you did have to go into foster care near here we could see each other regularly but I cannot see how you will manage to get here without money and someone to travel with. They do not let children travel on their own on planes. The airlines have a service to accompany a child but a guardian needs to deliver the child to the accompanying attendant and then an adult must take custody of them at the other end. I could possibly arrange for one of my mentors to help me pick you up from the airport if one of your friends at the restaurant could put you onto the plane. The biggest problem is that it costs money, you'd need to pay for the second seat for the attendant and possibly an extra payment as well._

_Do you think you could steal enough money from the Dursleys to pay for two seats?_

_I'm also hesitant to encourage you to involve your friends at the restaurant. Whoever is altering your family and teacher's memories hasn't affected them yet. I think whoever it is might not know about the food they give you or the time that you spend there and I wouldn't want them to be affected if this attempt to escape doesn't work. It is possible that your neighbors distrust and dislike has been caused by the person trying to keep you at the Dursleys to prevent any of them from helping you, and the restaurant has been missed since it's on the other side of your school and they don't realise you're traveling that far from home. If whoever is doing this widens their net you would find it nearly impossible to find someone else willing to help._

_The second issue is of course if you want to stay in this area then you'd have to turn yourself into Pasadena child protection and if they put your picture in the paper asking for relatives to come forward, which they probably would, then the mentor that helped me collect you from the airport might see it, and tell the authorities. I don't know how to get around that problem unless you learn how to make memories disappear but I wouldn't like to risk harming someone like that just because they were trying to help us._

_More than anything I wish that I had talked you into going to child protection when the Dursleys kicked you out of that hotel room. We could've waited until they'd gone back to England if it'd have made you feel safer but I got the feeling that whoever is watching you or however they were keeping track of what happened wasn't happening while you were here. It might have been your best opportunity to get away safely and I'm sorry that we didn't realise that._

_I'm sorry that I can't find a way to bring you here safely._

_Your friend _

_Spencer_

Harry sighed as he finished reading the letter, again in the safety of the staff loo at the restaurant. Spencer was right, as much as he wanted to leave it might be dangerous to run away again. He needed to take his time and plan carefully, he also needed to keep a careful look out for anyone who might be watching him and write down the people he saw in the street behaving oddly or paying him too much attention. But he also mustn't be seen writing things down otherwise next time they took his memories they'd take his notebook too.

Most of all he needed to protect Spencer, he didn't want someone messing around with Spencer's amazing memory just because of their friendship. He had to protect him somehow. Maybe he should stop writing to him in case someone was keeping a closer watch on him than they had before.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter 40**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Saturday 24/11/90**_

_**Dear Spencer,**_

_**I'm sorry that I can't come to live near you too, I wish it was possible, I would like it above anything but you did raise some good points. I don't want to risk the few friends and protections from the Dursley's abuse that I do have here if getting away is not going to work. I'm really worried though, with my powers so weak they're not going to be able to protect me from Vernon or Dudley or heal me afterwards if I get injured.**_

_**The one thing that I really really don't want to risk is having someone come and mess with your memory. It's too special and who knows what they'd do to you if the standard way of making people forget didn't work. I think you should probably stop writing to me just to be safe. I will miss your letters, they are the best thing in my life, but I couldn't bear it if you got hurt because of me, if they managed to take your incredible memory away the whole world would end up worse off because I just know that one day you are going to do something amazing with it.**_

_**I'm a terrible friend, so not writing to me anymore shouldn't be too much of a loss but I'm very sorry that I missed your birthday. I had been making you something before I was injured and I sent it today so you should have it in a week or so. It's a beginner cook book with all the steps explained in as much detail as I can. All my favourite easy meals and things that I make for the Dursleys, well the things that are at least a little bit healthy and some of the pizza recipes that I helped test out for the restaurant. I didn't send you the recipe to make pizza base as it's a bit too complicated for a beginner to learn from a book, but you can buy premade bases in the refrigerated section of the supermarket.**_

_**I will remember you as my first friend for the rest of my life no matter what they do to my mind, I will miss you Spencer but your safety is more important to me than letters. I will understand if you don't write again. Please take care of yourself. Stay safe and grow up to do all the wonderful things I know you're capable of. Remember me while you still can and maybe if we're lucky, one day in the future I will know who's doing all this and find a way to make them stop. Then I will try to find you again and hopefully you will still want to be my friend.**_

_**You said you were worried about me not being healed until I left the house, that someone who wanted me to live should have come and healed me as soon as I was injured and you're right, they took a hell of a risk that I would be able to heal myself enough to escape. For that I owe you my life. If I hadn't come to Las Vegas and met you, and trusted you enough to tell you about what was happening around me, I wouldn't've learned that it was possible to use my power thing on command and how to feel it and I hadn't started to try to use it everyday to stop it building up enough to escape my control then I wouldn't have known to keep trying to heal myself or been able to unlock the cupboard door. I wouldn't have got out and I wouldn't have been healed and had my memories of the assault and the escape stolen. I would have died in that cupboard, I have read enough medical books in the last week to know I not only had a compound fracture of a rib poking through the skin, the other end of the rib punctured my lung. **_

_**One other thing I have realised though, is that whoever did this never stopped me from using my powers to make my life easier at the Dursleys. They didn't try to limit them when I was using them to make light, healing myself, using them to clean things I couldn't reach, fix things or unlocking the door to get out into the rest of the house and steal food, even once when I used them to make Dudley go to sleep before Vernon got home when I knew he was going to tell Vernon something that would make him beat me, they never tried to stop me. They only reacted when I left the house injured and didn't intend to come back. That means that they're not keeping a close eye on what happens inside the house. Or at least they weren't before. Maybe because what happens to my power in the house would happen to theirs as well? Maybe they can't do anything inside the house. **_

_**Hopefully that means if I can get my powers to work enough to unlock the door again they won't do anything about it. I remember when I first came back from Vegas I was practicing doing things every day trying to stop the power from building up until it came out without my control and it sort of worked but the power got stronger the more I used it so if I work on it maybe it will get stronger again, and of course I spent all day Saturday out of the neighbourhood so Saturday night I had the power to unlock the door just after Vernon went up to bed though I felt horribly weak afterwards and worried that I wouldn't be able to lock it behind me afterwards, thought thankfully desperation gave me the surge I needed in the end. So I am stocked up on snacks again to go with the snacks I brought back from the restaurant. Even if Petunia stops feeding me again, I won't starve this week at least. I need to find a way to stock up during the day when I'm not locked in.**_

_**Your friend**_

_**Harry**_

Spencer's first reaction was that Harry was giving up on their friendship. One more person in his life leaving him with just a letter saying goodbye for no adequate reason. But when he read it through again he realised that Harry didn't want to stop writing to him. He just thought that Spencer would be safer if they did and was trying to protect his friend. To warn Spencer and give him the choice. He could see smudges where the ink had run and when he touched his tongue to one of them he tasted tears. Even suggesting that they stop writing to each other had made Harry cry. It wasn't until he realised this, that he noticed that Harry wasn't the only one. Spencer had tears running down his face as well. Their friendship was too important to both of them to be easily given up.

He cried for a while then calmed down and tried to think rationally about the level of danger he'd put himself in, writing to Harry, but realised he couldn't begin to calculate it. Without knowing who was doing this to Harry, what their motivation was and what the limits to their power was there was no real way to know if he was safe or not. Or whether he was already in danger and it no longer mattered if he kept writing or not, someone was already on their way to make him forget Harry. He thought about ways to make himself safer. Harry knew his address but he wouldn't willingly tell anyone so Spencer was safe where he was at the moment. He knew that the postal service said it was wrong not to put a return address on an envelope but if anyone found the restaurant and the letter waiting for Harry to pick up it would be better if it didn't tell them how to find him. would that be enough? Perhaps they should limit their correspondence to mundane matters and not discuss Harry's power thing or that they believed something was going on with Harry and the Dursleys' memories being altered or limits being put on his abilities. That way if someone did read his letter, they would have no reason to think they needed to look for Spencer.

Spencer realised this might work but it would also still be depriving Harry of the confidant he needed to help him deal with what was going on. He might as well stop writing if they stopped being honest with each other.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter 41**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Spencer was delighted with the birthday present he'd received. Especially because Harry had gone to the trouble of making it for him and must have paid close attention to all the complaints he'd made about the beginner cookbooks he'd borrowed from the library over the summer and about his failure to learn to cook from them. The amount of effort Harry put into the gift more than made up for it being late, even if the memory of that lonely birthday would haunt him for some time to come.

_Tuesday 12/11/90_

_Dear Harry_

_Thank you for the cook book, I haven't been home yet to try any of the recipes but it makes perfect sense to me. Most cook books assume that I already know the basics but you've explained everything in plain language and enough detail to make sense to me. It's very thoughtful and it must have taken you quite a while to make it too, especially since you learned to cook so long ago that a lot of the things I need to learn would be pure instinct to you. I will treasure it always. Don't be upset about missing my birthday with being injured and having the memories of that week removed and being worried about what was going on with your powers and whether you were being watched and worrying about it being safe to keep in contact with me and with your friends from the restaurant, I'm not surprised that you lost track of the days and you obviously did not plan to forget or you wouldn't have already be making my gift. _

_I understand that you are panicking about having your memories taken away but whoever did this doesn't know about the restaurant and they don't know about me. I feel that I am perfectly safe writing to you. If it matters to you, I will stop putting my return address on my letters and start referring to my school as 'my school' or college instead of by it's name, so if your enemies do find out about the restaurant and intercept one of our letters, they won't be able to find me from it. There are hundreds of colleges across America and thousands of high schools. As for your letters to me, once they are in the mailbox there shouldn't be any problem, mailboxes are tamper proof and there are hundreds if not thousands of pieces of mail going from England to America every day._

_Harry seriously, try not to worry too much I do think that it's safe to keep writing and your friendship is definitely worth a lot more risk than this. I want to keep writing to you and I do not want you to feel guilty about it. You did your duty in warning me and can't do any more than that. It is entirely my own decision to keep writing. Please don't stop writing to me, your letters are the highlight of my week when I get them._

_School is going well and Ethan and I are slowly moving from being friendly to being actual friends. The other students in my house are treating us well and starting to include us more and more, particularly with study groups as exams come closer. It's hard sometime not to think that they're using us to try to improve their grades but so long as nobody is asking me to do their work for them, I can deal with it and treat it as a positive thing._

_Classes and Exam prep are also going well and I am hoping for top grades in most of my subjects. The professors are still really interesting to listen to lecture but have started to reign me in when I ask questions of things that won't be covered in the exam for that class. They don't tell me to shut up though, most of them just politely suggest that it isn't on the exam but if I am genuinely curious, they'd be happy to speak to me during their office hours. I've taken a few of them up on it and had some interesting conversations and received book and further class recommendations on things tat interest me._

_I hope that you're well and starting to feel like your normal self again. Have you noticed yourself getting stronger again? Are the Dursleys still leaving you alone? Do you still feel like you want to run away? Have you noticed anyone watching you or anyone acting suspiciously? How is school? What are you reading at the moment? _

_Your friend_

_Spencer _

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter 42**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Thursday 20/12/90**_

_**Dear Spencer,**_

_**Merry Christmas I hope this gets to you in time. I have sent you a fruitcake, actually I sent it a couple of days ago so it shouldn't be too far away. Petunia made several small cakes this year in attempt to hide some from Vernon so we didn't have to bake again, Vernon has already found a couple of her hiding spots but luckily, I had already taken the cake to send to you, so I hope you enjoy stolen fruitcake. I did bake it completely myself this year though, so it's only the ingredients that were stolen. I have also sent you some 'White Christmas' which I think will keep well enough. It's my own work too. I would've sent some mince pies, shortbread and gingerbread but I thought they might be stale by the time they arrived since I didn't have a sealed container to send them in. if I hadn't planned on stealing some of the treats for myself and to send to you I would've suggested that the best place to hide it would be in my cupboard because Vernon and Dudley would never expect it to be in there. But then again if they did catch me getting some out for Petunia they'd know where it was and I would be punished if it went missing. Luckily, Petunia isn't smart enough to think of hiding anything in there, that or she doesn't trust me which is a bit rich since as far as she knows I'm locked up all night and can't be the person hogging into the food she's made for guests. One thing hiding the treats has achieved is that Dudley isn't eating as many. He's too lazy to really search for them, but I really don't know why she's so fussed. We really don't get guests other than her gardening group and she knows in advance what day they're coming so she could have just baked the day before. **_

_**Unfortunately, this year we are getting another guest. 'Aunt Marge', Vernon's sister who is just as horrible as he is and will also bring her beast of a dog. I don't hate dogs though I'm not very fond of them but Marge's dog 'Ripper' is a terror and I'm sure she's trained him to try to bite me every time he sees me. He doesn't try to bite anybody else. Marge always tells Vernon and Petunia that I'm an ungrateful whelp and should be sent to an orphanage since my parents lacked the good sense to drown me at birth as should happen to runts like me. The worst thing is she claims to hate me but she really enjoys insulting me. So she insists that I'm present most of the time, cleaning or working and not locked in my cupboard all day safe from the dog or kicked out of the house to visit the library and the restaurant, unless it's sleeting and really miserable out, then she will enjoy forcing me out into the bad weather. Don't worry about Marge though. She isn't physically abusive herself though she does encourage Vernon to punish me, but he never takes it too far when she's there. So I will be okay.**_

_**I'm not managing to sneak out at night and steal food from the Dursleys as often as I used to, I am starting to be able to get the door unlocked again every time I try but it exhausts me and no amount of food seems to make up for the energy I needed to use to get it. I've gone back to eating more at the restaurant since I feel a lot better there than I do closer to the Dursleys and I've resorted to stealing out of dumpsters again as well so I'm still getting enough to eat, even if very little of it is treats or Christmas food. It's also probably better for me that stuffing myself with treats anyway.**_

_**I'm glad that your classes are going well and you have friends to study with even if most of the advantages of studying with the others is social for you. Of course, you will get top marks. I'd be surprised if you don't get the top mark in all your subjects. I on the other hand am cruising comfortably into a solid D minus average. Hopefully that will be low enough not to beat Dudley. It's harder to know how badly I need to do when he isn't with me in class and of course his homework doesn't help because I do it all for him anyway. In spite of my marks I'm enjoying school most of the time and I honestly think that I could easily be one of the top students in my class now if I was allowed to do well. That's thanks to you. Before I met you, I was still learning the work though I was deliberately doing poorly, but it was hard to motivate myself to make sure I understood everything properly when I knew I could never show it anyway and I could feel myself starting to get lazy with it. But now I want to learn as much as possible because you made everything sound so interesting so I wanted to learn more about it and reading and learning began to seem rewarding for their own sake and I want to make you proud of me.**_

_**I've been reading 'The Changeover' by Margaret Mahy and 'Robinsheugh' by Eileen Dunlop, they're both stories about supernatural happenings and they're both delightfully creepy, if a bit girly. I've also been trying to read 'Oliver Twist', which I find interesting. Life for children living on the street seems to me like it probably hasn't changed much in the past hundred and fifty years. I also read 'All the Impossible Things' by Lindsay Lackey about a girl in foster care. Yes, you can see there's a theme going on about what my teacher recommends I read. I think she's trying to encourage me to leave the Dursleys. Maybe she is one of the people who tried to help me in the past and her memory either wasn't wiped out well enough or they missed her and she realised that direct intervention hasn't worked. I wish that I could talk to her about it, but it isn't worth the risk of making her think that I'm mentally disturbed and potentially dangerous since she doesn't seem to dislike me at the moment.**_

_**Your friend**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter 43**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_ Thursday 12/20/90_

_Dear Harry, _

_Merry Christmas. I know you said that your relatives don't let you join in on their celebrations and Mom and I don't celebrate it either since Dad left. Even before that she was weirded out by Christmas one minute she loves it and goes overboard decorating, and the next minute the decorations and gifts in the house are causing paranoid delusions and she destroys them all. Vegas isn't exactly the right climate to have proper Christmas trees they dry out too quickly and become a fire hazard, not that that stops the casinos or some people, and I share Mom's dislike for plastic trees and fake snow, but we used to have a Christmas meal and gifts though they often weren't wrapped. Wrapped parcels frighten Mom. Now though there's nothing. I can't cook a Christmas dinner and Mom's too disorganised to do it now even on a good day. We can't go to restaurants this time of year because of the decorations, so unless your cookbook works wonders and I can actually make something edible, it will be take away dinners or perhaps Mac and Cheese out of a box unless Mom's friends and relatives take pity on us. I don't think they will though. They've been looking forward to me coming home for vacation so they can take a break from caring for Mom so I don't expect to see them at all._

_It will be nice to have more time to spend with Mom but part of me wishes that classes didn't stop for so long I'm going to miss being at school, though it would be kind of sad and pathetic if I were the only person in the dorm to stay over break and spend Christmas Day alone, and I'd rather spend it with Mom even if she doesn't recognise that it's Christmas. I think that I would enjoy the peace and quiet._

_I am proud of you Harry, proud that you're making the best of your education in spite of your situation. It's a pity though that you can't trust your teacher well enough to explain the situation to her so she can check on Dudley's grades and write you a fake report card with grades just a little worse than his and a real report card that shows what you can really do._

_I'm proud that in spite of growing up surrounded by nothing but pettiness and cruelty you still managed to become a kind and caring person using what powers you have to heal and feed yourself instead of hurting the Dursleys and those around you whose wilful blindness allows their cruelty and abuse to continue unnoticed. Proud that even when sending me stolen gifts you care enough to be honest and tell me, and proud that you are trying to better yourself. But you don't need to try to learn Chemistry and Math or any subject that doesn't really interest you to make me proud. I always will be proud of you and interested in whatever you want to write to me about. Especially if I know it's something that interests you. But most of all I'm proud that someone as amazing as you wants to be my friend and that my friendship has been able to help you, even if I can't help as much as I would like to be able to._

_I got my report card and you were right I did get the top mark in all my science and math classes, though I only beat Ethan at math by a quarter of a percent. I also got high distinctions for my other classes too. College isn't like school. All of the classes I did this semester are finished and I will do different classes next semester. Some of them follow on from each other like inorganic Chemistry 102 follows Chemistry 101 but others I won't do again. For example, this semester coming I need to do a Physical Education subject and an arts subject, but I only have to do two English and three humanities subjects to graduate so I'm not doing either next half of the year. Ethan wants me to do music for my arts subject but there is a subject I can do that meets my requirements for both arts and PE called interpretive dance, I hope you won't laugh at that idea too much. I'm not sure if I should try it because I'm too unco-ordinated but it means I can do an extra math class and if I fail the PE component then I can try something else and it is one of the few subjects that has more girls than boys and it's totally non-contact so I won't get pummelled. _

_I hope you get some pleasure out of Christmas, even if it is just with your friends at the restaurant. Vernon's sister Marge sounds dreadful. I hope she doesn't stay too long and that her dog chokes on his Christmas dinner before it gets a chance to bite you. As you might guess I don't like dogs, or the bigger issue is that they don't like me._

_Merry Christmas Harry_

_Your friend_

_Spencer_

Harry eagerly ripped open the package to find a book on physics for beginners. It wasn't a new book, rather it had Spencer's name on the front page. Harry was touched, Spencer had chosen this book for him out of his own collection, thinking he'd find it interesting or useful. He knew how much Spencer loved his books, even those that he'd long since memorised were precious to him and he was grateful that no matter what delusions his mother had she'd never been able to destroy a single book. Books were Spencer's life and in giving him this one he was sharing part of himself.

The book itself was actually far too advanced for Harry's age and education level but he didn't realise that, everything he'd read about physics in the library helped him understand as he worked his way through it and the concepts fascinated him. The fact that Spencer sent it meant that Harry was determined to understand every single idea and process in the book. He didn't realise that he was attracting attention with his choice of reading or that a few of the teachers at Stonewall were looking forward to having him in their classes.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	44. Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

"Does your friend think that I don't feed you properly? Did you tell him I don't?" Diana Reid asked her son when he received another parcel of Christmas treats in the mail.

"No Mom, he knows that I can't cook myself, and he knows that you're not always well enough to make treats. He doesn't have the money to buy a nice gift and send it, so he sends things he's made. He's a good cook for a kid," Spencer tried to explain. "Try one?"

"Are you sure they're not from the government, trying to poison us?" Diana asked suspiciously.

"They're not from the government. They're from my friend in England. Why would he try to poison you? He doesn't know you. See the postage," Spencer said showing her the package wrappings. "They're a bit dry, would you like some tea or coffee with them?"

"They're different? I thought you said your friend was English? These aren't English," Diana said.

"No, they're Italian. He's friends with a family who own an Italian restaurant and because he's interested in cooking, sometimes he helps out there and they teach him things," Spencer tried to explain. He wondered if he should tell Harry not to send him food again while he was home with his Mom. He decided it was better not to say anything, he knew Harry would be upset if he thought his gift had caused his Mom to have a bad day and this wasn't really a bad reaction.

_** Saturday 29/12/90**_

_**Dear Spencer **_

_**One day when we're both grown up, I'm going to invite you to my home and cook you a proper British Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. I know how, I've done most of the work for Christmas dinner this year. And I've cooked I don't know how much shortbread and gingerbread and fruit mince pies and Christmas fruitcake. Vernon and Dudley keep getting into them and eating them all and then Petunia insist that I cook more so there's plenty for guests. She kept me home from school on Friday to bake for Christmas and prepare the ham and the puddings. I wouldn't mind it so much if I didn't have to cook the same things all the time, or if I ever was allowed to eat any of them, other than the little bits of leftover dough. Though as you know I manage to steal quite enough to make up for it. Making light is easy now and I think the light is as bright as it used to be, unlocking the cupboard is still a struggle but it is getting easier again so whatever they did to the house is wearing off thank goodness. I try to steal enough non-perishable things for at least a second night so I'm not trying to unlock the door every night. I have spent some of the money I earned in the restaurant on airtight containers so I can keep things better.**_

_**I'm sure there's other Christmas foods. In fact, I know there is because I've been helping bake Christmas biscotti at the restaurant. You'd probably call them cookies, made with almond meal and dusted with icing sugar. They're really good but I don't know if they'll keep well enough for you to appreciate them. Still I've sent you some since I was given more than I could eat and I didn't have enough money to buy you a present and pay postage and I didn't want to only send you stolen goods. I hope they're still good and that they arrive at your house before you go back to college. I thought about sending them straight there but they'd be too stale to eat for sure by the time you got back.**_

_**Christmas Day was pretty miserable with Marge there, every time she sees me she says something awful. Some of the time it's awful things about Mum and Dad and I can see Petunia getting angry when she insults Mum, but she never says anything so I just try not to listen to her. Luckily, she uses a different tone of voice when she's giving me orders so I can just try to ignore the words and listen for that change in tone to tell me when I need to hear what she's saying.**_

_**Marge has gone home. She left the day after Christmas and things have returned to normal, thank goodness. Even Petunia and Dudley were glad to see her go and I'm not sure that Vernon wasn't too. They don't squabble like the brother and sister next door at number six fight with each other, or like the man across the road fights with his sister-in-law and brother-in-law when they come to visit but I don't get the impression that they're fond of each other at all. I know Petunia is nice to her mostly to keep the peace with Vernon and she makes Dudley be nice to her because they're hoping that Marge will leave him all her money. She's twelve years older than Vernon and just as fat and unhealthy, at least while she's here she is. She drinks more too, but that doesn't mean she's going to die before Vernon. Not with the way he turns purple and the veins in his neck pulse when he loses his temper. Vernon's on blood pressure medication too. Quite a lot of it I think, and at least four different medications for his heart. From what I looked up in the library I'm sure his doctor would recommend a healthier diet too but he refuses to change it and I'm not going to try to sneak healthier cooking methods into Petunia's kitchen.**_

_**Anyway, Marge and her horrid dog Ripper are gone, we won't see them again at least until one of the Summer bank holidays, and at least then it isn't too cold to sit up in a tree if he chases me up one again. I'm going to look for a hideout again when the weather improves and hopefully I can talk Petunia into letting me stay out in it the whole time Marge is here. There's a couple of places that wouldn't be too bad to stay in for a day or two though they're not hidden enough from Dudley to be a proper hideout. Still Dudley's getting bigger much quicker than I am, maybe I can find a place that he won't fit into anymore.**_

_**Merry Christmas Spencer**_

_**Your friend**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

White Christmas Recipe

2 cups mixed fruit (sultanas, currents, orange peel, glace cherries etc,)

1 cup white sugar

1 cup coconut

1 cup powdered milk

3 cups rice bubbles

250g copha

Mix dry ingredients, add melted copha, press into slice tray, refrigerate.


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter 45**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Sunday 1/6/91

_Dear Harry_

_Thanks for the biscotti. You're right I would've called them cookies. They were still delicious, though a little dry, we ate them dipped in coffee which is probably how the Italians eat them most of the time anyway. Thanks for the fruit cake too, it was still really moist and lovely. Much better than store bought cakes, and I enjoyed the 'White Christmas' though I'd never heard of it before. I shared them with Mom and she loved them too. I'm on the train back to school, and really looking forward to the new semester. I got into all of my top choices for classes which the older guys in my house told me not to expect as it's really rare, especially as I'm doing more subjects than normal so it would be harder to fit into the schedule._

_I'm beginning to think the train conductors recognise me, just like I've always believed that the waitresses at the buffet recognised me but they're ignoring me. They've never once asked me for a ticket. The train is a lot more comfortable than the bus and being able to travel free lets me go home more than I could otherwise without making compromises on meals and coffee. I think Mom was glad to have me home for the whole two weeks even if we didn't celebrate Christmas. She had a good week, took her medications. We didn't see much of her friends and relatives, though someone, I think it was probably Aunt Ethel, had left us a refrigerator full of meals to heat up for the first few days. Like I expected they were glad to have the two weeks off but I have to admit that they are doing an adequate job of looking after her during the week when I'm at school and they probably deserved the break._

_I wasn't able to find The Changeover' or 'Robinsheugh' at my hometown library, but I will look again in the library at school and the public library near there when I get back from holidays. I did find and read 'All the Impossible Things', though I don't know what to tell you about it. It was entertaining but I'm not sure how well the author knew the foster care system, or if it is just one person's experience of it. I also found 'The Ghost by the Sea' by Eileen Dunlop. It was like you said deliciously creepy. She writes very well, it's only after you put the book down that you stop believing that it could've happened. I'm surprised you aren't giving yourself nightmares. I have read 'Oliver Twist too, years ago and I quite enjoyed it, you're right I don't think things have changed for the better for the homeless young people on the streets, if anything the story is a bit sanitised since it doesn't really go into rape, child prostitution, drug addiction or the other horrible things that can happen to children without someone looking out for them on the streets, and I don't believe it would really have been better then, just better hidden from those who didn't want to notice._

_It feels strange to be home for more than one or two nights, I keep feeling like it's time to leave to go back to school, as much as I'm enjoying spending time with Mom when she's well I do miss school. I miss classes and my studies, not that I haven't been studying here, I did bring home a full bag of books, more surprisingly I miss the dorms, not just Ethan but the others too and my classmates, the ones I sit by regularly. And being home makes me miss you more too. I went to the hideout the other day and I swear I was nearly expecting you to be there. I read the books that you recommended to me and I wanted you there to talk to about it to really get your thoughts and impressions as you read 'Oliver Twist'. Letters can only reveal so much since they lack the immediacy of conversation, though sometimes I find it easier to write things that deeply affect me emotionally, than it would be to say them because I don't have to put up a front with you It's an odd juxtaposition. I find it with writing to Mom too, though I have to be a lot more careful not to trigger an episode when I'm not there to watch her expression as she hears what I'm saying._

_On the plus side I have enjoyed some of the familiar things from home, we went to Binion's for dinner last night, after the decorations came down, and Mom really enjoyed it. I haven't seen any of my former classmates even though most of them that left the area were probably home for the holidays as well. I went to our buffet one day while Mom was sleeping too, and actually bought a plate. Believe it or not I had more trouble getting in on my own properly than I used to have sneaking in with families. You should have seen the expression on the server's face. It was one who I never had trouble getting in when she was on the door. I guess that's confirmation that she knew what I was doing the whole time._

_I'm sorry that you didn't get to enjoy Christmas, and that Vernon's sister made things harder for you to get out and spend time with the people at the restaurant that care about you. I'm glad that the dog didn't manage to bite you this time. Perhaps you could poison it. I've read that antifreeze (_

_The green stuff you add to water in the car's radiator) is lethal to dogs and they love the taste of it so he'd eat all the evidence. I probably shouldn't be encouraging you to harm the dog, or I should at least feel more guilty than I do for doing it, but if it has been trained to bite children then it should be put down, there's no chance of it ever being safe around them and if you're not around it too often then it's probably been trained to bite someone else as well for the training to hold so effectively between visits._

_Did you ever consider that perhaps the thing on the house to stop you using your power isn't wearing off like you think it is? Perhaps, just like last year when using the power every day made you get better at making it do what you wanted, using it every day against the resistance of the house has helped your power learn to overcome it? I don't know whether it's making your power stronger or just better at resisting whatever is limiting its use in the Dursleys house and neighborhood._

_Your friend_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter 46**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Harry read Spencer's letter in the restaurant bathroom again as was his new habit, then thought for a moment before turning off the electric light and trying to make light in his hand. He figured if Spencer was right the light would be brighter than he could make it in the cupboard last night. He was shocked when the room lit up like the middle of a sunny day in mid-summer. It was actually almost too bright to look at comfortably and it didn't feel like it was using any of the well of energy his power came from. He stopped the light, listening anxiously to see if someone was coming to investigate before climbing on the toilet seat to look out the window and see if someone outside was paying attention. It didn't look like anyone was in the alley so he climbed down, cleaned his footprints off the seat, hid his letter and went back to the restaurant to help out with preparing the vegetables for the night. He was still shocked that Spencer was right, and that his light was so much brighter than it had ever been. Did that mean his powers were that much stronger than it had been as well, or was he just so good at making light because it was one of the things he'd been doing in his cupboard almost every night.

_**Monday, 14/1/91**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**Thank you for the book. It explained physics better than anything I could find in the library. Though I have read several other physics books since then too. It is such an interesting thing to learn about.**_

_**The holidays are over and I'm back at school. The owners and staff at **__**the restaurant**__** all put in and bought me a pair of boots and a warm woolen jumper for Christmas. They're second hand thank goodness or the Dursleys would think that I stole them, but they're both warm and the shoes are waterproof and best of all they're way too small for Dudley so they can't force me to give them to him. It's amazing how much quicker I can run in shoes that fit and when the soles aren't falling off. **_

_**Petunia is angry about the new clothes and suspicious about where I got them. Thank heavens, because Marge wouldn't let Petunia let me leave the house for long enough to get to the restaurant and back, the staff didn't give them to me until after Marge went home or she would probably have thrown them out or marched me down the police station and accused me of stealing them. Petunia knows I didn't steal them but she is offended that someone bought me clothes thinking that I was a charity case or that the clothes the Dursleys provided weren't good enough for a freak like me. She tried to order me to give them back but I told her that would only draw more attention to the fact she refuses to look after me properly. I told her that the people who gave me the coat and boots didn't know her or that I was her nephew so them giving the clothes to me didn't reflect badly on her, and that returning them would be incredibly bad manners and I kind of threatened her that the people who bought them for me would want to come home with me and talk to my guardians if I wasn't allowed to have them, to try to convince her to change her mind. Then she said I could keep them to be polite but I wasn't allowed to wear them and I pointed out that my friends who gave them to me would notice if I kept wearing my broken shoes held together with tape and my worn out jumpers instead of their gifts.**_

_**It's the first time I've won an argument with Petunia about anything. She didn't feed me any dinner for the rest of the holidays though so I guess we are even. It's funny though, she deliberately told me not to set a plate for myself because I wasn't getting any dinner but she told me before I started cooking then she went upstairs while I was cooking so I cooked the same amount of food as I normally would and just ate mine while I was cooking. Dudley nearly caught me one night but I managed to distract him by opening one of the cupboards where Petunia had hidden the chocolate biscuits, and offering him a taste of the stew to see if it had enough salt and pepper so he didn't realise I was actually more than tasting it.**_

_**It snowed here today, nearly six inches. I spent the afternoon shovelling the driveway, and then I went to the restaurant and shovelled their front walk for them too. They gave me hot chocolate to warm me up while doing it though and a full meal afterwards. I wish I could just stay there in the restaurant if I can't live with you it would be the next best thing. They have a cupboard under the stairs but it's full of stuff for different themes and seasons. They aren't the sort of people who would let a child live under the stairs either. I don't think it's ever occurred to them to keep me, they don't want the responsibility of bringing up a child, or the legal headache of getting child protection to let them have me. You're the only person who has ever really wanted me. I know you think that doesn't change much in my life because you still couldn't keep me but it means more than you'll ever know.**_

_**You were right that the power limit thing hasn't worn of the house. I hadn't thought of that but after I got your letter, I thought of a way to test it to see if you were right. I should have known that you would be. I went to the staff bathroom at the restaurant and turned off the electric light and tried to make the brightest light that I could like I do in the cupboard. In the cupboard it makes a light bright enough to read by but only just, no more than a cheap light globe. In the restaurant bathroom it was blinding. Like the flashbulb from a professional camera. I could see spots for ages after I stopped the light. I also used my power to unlock the door when I came out and it was unlocked and open before I even really thought about trying. So whatever they've put on the house is actually making my power work harder and more strongly. I'll bet that's not part of their plan, whoever it was.**_

_**Your friend**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	47. Chapter 47

**Chapter 47**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT **give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Six months and a dozen letters later

_** Tuesday 9/7/91**_

_**Dear Spencer,**_

_**Sorry it took me so long to reply to your letter but I've been locked in the cupboard for the last couple of weeks and only let out to use the bathroom and be handed a small meal twice a day. **_

_**I was being punished for letting my power get out of control again. It's a bit of a long story. They Dursleys went to the zoo for Dudley's birthday, taking Dudley's best friend Piers. Mrs Figg wasn't available so to Dudley's great disgust Vernon insisted that I went with them. To start with the day wasn't too bad but then we went into the snake enclosure. One of the snakes was looking at me as if he understood what I was saying and when Dudley saw that he pushed me over and I hurt my arm. The glass on the snake tank vanished. The glass was only gone for a moment, if the snake hadn't escaped and Dudley fallen into the enclosure, I don't think anyone other than Dudley would've noticed. But he was leaning on the glass banging it and he fell into the enclosure just in time to get trapped when the glass reappeared.**_

_**You can imagine the fuss. There's this great big snake on the loose. It was a boa constrictor so it wasn't poisonous but once it was out of it's enclosure, I guess most people wouldn't recognise that so people are running and screaming in a huge panic, trying to get out of the dark where the snake exhibit is. And Dudley's stuck behind the glass in its cage so he got the blame for setting the snake loose and he and Vernon and Petunia cant explain to the zoo keepers how it happened.**_

_**Anyhow Vernon tried to drag me out of there by the ear, and the zoo keeper objected because he didn't think that I could've had anything to do with it and even if I had it wouldn't be fair to punish me and not Dudley. Not to mention pulling me almost off my feet by the ear isn't a normal punishment for a ten year old. One of the zoo keepers threatened to call the police on Vernon, which they half wanted to do for Dudley letting the snake out anyway. Eventually things calmed down, though I'm not sure how and we drove home.**_

_**They threw me in the cupboard and Vernon said that I wasn't getting any meals for two weeks and then the took Dudley and Piers out for dinner to make up for being treated so badly by the horrible zoo keepers. So, I unlocked my cupboard and carefully collected a good pile of food that will keep well for a week or so and a large amount of water in case it gets really hot because the cupboard is so stuffy even if it is one of the coolest places in the house. Surprisingly, I didn't need the food though, Petunia has been feeding me when Vernon and Dudley aren't around. Not a lot but enough not to starve and I let myself out every couple of days to stock up my stolen food supply. Other than missing the last week and a half of primary school, and the orientation for Stonewall High and knowing that you'd be worried not to get a letter it hasn't been too bad. Luckily I'd changed all my library books the day before so I had plenty to read and the Dursleys let me out in time to return them before I got fined.**_

_**I've been reading the Encyclopaedia Brown books where this kid is super smart like you and solves crimes by using obscure knowledge. I don't think I'd recommend them to you, I'm sure the stories would be too obvious and they're a bit too childish for you. And 'Matilda' by Roald Dahl, it was a recommendation by my teacher and is also about a really smart kid that was bringing herself up like you but her parents weren't sick just extremely selfish and ignored her because she was too different from them. From there I read a couple of his other books too. I also read 'Wonder' by R.J. Palacio about a child with a physical deformity and how he overcomes bullying to make friends and learn to enjoy school. It's a great story but it seems really unrealistic. I've read some other stuff too but those are the books I'd recommend to a friend to read though they might seem a bit young and simple for you.**_

_**Missing the end of school means I didn't get to see my report but Vernon didn't get angry about it so I'd guess I passed well enough to go to Stonewall and didn't do better than Dudley which is what I was hoping for.**_

_**I have great news. Vernon and Petunia have definitely decided to send Dudley to 'Smeltings', it's the boarding school that Vernon went to which means that I not only won't I have him in class scaring people away from becoming my friend I won't need to put up with him at home either. I don't think they've really thought it through properly, though. There's no way that I could do Dudley's homework for him if he doesn't come home at night. He will have to do it himself. Not that I'm about to point that out to him. I don't know how they can afford it either, perhaps you're right and someone's paying them to look after me. If so, they must be paying quite generously. He's a legacy student which is why he got in without having to sit an entrance exam and interview, I heard Petunia bragging to the neighbours about it. Just as well because I saw the letter they received from the local Grammar where they were going to send him and Dudley was refused admittance because of his grades this year. The Dursleys don't know that I know that. **_

_**I hope your end of semester exams went well, I'm sure you're probably at the top of all your classes again, except for your dance class. I hope you passed it. They'd have to give you some credit for effort because I know you tried your best even if it was a bit of a disappointment about meeting and practicing talking to girls. I'm not sure why you'd want to talk to giggly silly girls anyway. Isn't it better to try to talk to the girls in your science and math classes, at least then they'd be smart like you and you'd have stuff in common to talk about.**_

_**Did you go home for the summer, or did you take the extra courses you were talking about? How is you mum? I hope everything is going well**_

_**Your friend**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	48. Chapter 48

**Chapter 48**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Spencer was incredibly relieved to find the letter in his letter box when he returned from visiting his mother. He'd been worried for more than a week. It just wasn't like Harry to take so long to write back. Particularly with school ending he would normally try to send a letter on the last day of classes in case Petunia kept him too close to home with spring cleaning and chores for the first week of the holiday. They'd gone this long between letters before but both had been making a lot more effort since the incident where Harry had had his memories altered, each wanting to reassure the other that they still knew and cared about their best friend.

_ Monday 7/15/91_

_Dear Harry_

_I was glad to get your letter. I was starting to worry that someone had interfered with your memory again and this time they made you forget me or forget about your friends at the restaurant and the fact that we were still writing to each other or even just my new address._

_I did take the summer program I told you about and it is so incredible, everything I hoped it would be. I could ramble on for pages about how amazing the individualised teaching is and how many wonderfully interesting things I'm learning but don't worry I'll restrain myself and get to the point of what I wanted to say. The thing is that taking the summer program meant I hadn't been home for the last few weeks of term because I was busy getting my application in and getting everything organised, so I couldn't tell if you'd written to my home address. But I was home this weekend and I panicked a bit to see that there was no letter waiting there for me. Mom promised she hadn't thrown a letter for me out, not that she'd realise it was a real letter to me or remember doing it if she'd done it on a bad day. So, I was very relieved to get back to the house and find your letter this morning. I would have written to you today whether I got a letter or not._

_I'm sorry you were punished like that and missed the opportunity to visit your new school and get to know some of the other students and potentially make some contacts you could spend time with over the summer. It would be good for you to have a friend your own age. I really don't count, I'm not normal enough to counteract the effect of spending all your spare time reading or hanging around with adults. I'm glad that you found a way to get enough to eat and that you had something to keep you occupied while you were locked up. It's good that your aunt seems to have started caring what happens to you, it makes me want to feel more confident that you are okay in that house but don't rely on it Harry, she might be feeding you properly behind Vernon's back but she can't be depended on to stand up for you if he decided to hurt you again._

_I'm glad that you got to see the zoo. Some of it makes me sad to see the animals in cages but some of the new enclosures are more animal friendly and the inhabitants seem content enough. I know zoos also do a lot of good in raising awareness about conservation and the risks of animals becoming extinct as well as developing breeding programs for species endangered in the wild. But I'm guessing the Dursleys didn't care about any of that. What was your favourite part of the zoo?_

_Your story about Dudley getting stuck in the glass cage was very funny, I could almost picture it. Or it would've been funny if it didn't come about because you were hurt and cause you to be punished. I know you didn't admit to being hurt but I know you pretty well now Harry. To lose control of your power like that, you had to be either really shocked at being knocked down, which you wouldn't be if you'd known Dudley was nearby, you'd have been on your guard for it. Or you were really hurt, broken bone sort of hurt. Are you alright? Did you manage to heal yourself? Or did removing and replacing the glass to stop Dudley from being able to hurt you again wear you out too much? One other thing I found curious about your story. You said that the snake appeared to understand you? Has that happened before with an animal? Is this the first snake that you've tried to talk to? I've never heard of that happening before. Even so called snake charmers can't actually talk to their snakes. The snakes are reacting to the instrument the charmer uses as a threat and the poor things are usually defanged to make them safe because the 'snake charmer' has no real control over them, which is abhorrent. The thing is that snakes don't have ears, they don't hear sounds at all rather they feel vibrations so I don't know how the snake could possibly understand human speech. That's not to say I'm doubting you. I know you're observant enough to notice whether a snake is listening to you or just reacting randomly to their environment and wouldn't easily be fooled by a simple coincidence. It might have something to do with your power. There's no other rational explanation. I know it's not like a comic but I feel I should tease you that once upon a time when you were a baby you must have been bitten by a radioactive snake and are destined to become the next superhero. But that doesn't explain your powers at all._

_I wonder if you will ever find a reasoning behind your power, how it came to be and what the limitations of it are. I hope you do find out one day and are able to use the power to it's full capacity even if you never use it to save people from burning buildings or to fight supervillains._

_Your friend_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	49. Chapter 49

**Chapter 49**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Harry wished that he'd taken a moment to look through the pile of letters properly and hide away the one for him. it was really annoying that he wasn't allowed to have it. In the beginning he was worried that something had happened to Spencer and they'd sent the letter to his relatives' house to get hold of him more quickly than using their letter drop at the restaurant. But the next day when more letters arrived, he was able to get close enough to notice that it didn't have stamps and a postmark let alone the international postage. Whoever had written it had hand delivered it which was odd. Why hadn't they knocked on the door and asked to speak with him. it made even less sense as the letters continued to arrive. He was rather pleased that whoever was sending the letters had managed to get him a real room with a window even if it was actually cooler under the stairs. The change in address that freaked out the Dursleys also worried him. if they were keeping that close an eye on him and what was going on inside the house did that mean the letters were from the person or people who had healed his injuries and removed his memories of the assault and attempt to go to the police for help?

_**Sunday 28/7/91**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**The summer's being going well after it's less than satisfactory beginning, and my friends at the restaurant are all well, I've been spending quite a bit of time there since school's finished and the chef has let me graduate from cutting vegetables to starting to make some of the desserts. It's a lot of fun. I would send you something but they mostly have cream or custard and wouldn't keep. I've also been reading a lot and the restaurant owner's mother has come to live with them and has been helping out/ hanging around the restaurant and has started teaching us a little bit of Italian, mostly food and cooking related words but it is fun.**_

_**Vernon, Petunia and Dudley are to normal after the scare of being locked into the snake enclosure at the zoo, Vernon's almost a bit too normal. I almost think they might have forgotten it though I haven't and I don't know why anyone would make them forget something a couple of weeks after they locked me in the cupboard for doing it. It didn't help me at all. I wonder if they didn't hear about it until the day I got out or they wanted to wait until the Dursley's finished punishing me before they made them forget? **_

_**Well I should say Vernon and Petunia were back to normal, before someone started sending me prank letters, or at least I think they're a prank. It's pretty daft if it is a prank, and even more daft if it isn't. If it's aimed at me then it's a really lame prank since Vernon and Petunia won't even let me read the letters anyway and if someone is trying to get in contact with me why send more than one or two letters before coming to see why I haven't answered them? They've sent dozens, more every day. What's the point in that? If I'm not going to reply to a letter then surely sending me two the next day then half a dozen then more and more is only going to make me angry.**_

_**On the other hand, if the prank is aimed at Vernon or Petunia it is strangely working though I don't understand why. I can't imagine why sending somebody strange letters would be funny before now, but watching Vernon and Petunia freak out about them his hilarious, or it would be if it didn't mean spending the rest of the day in the cupboard without meals every day. I hope whoever's doing it stops soon before I run out of protein bars and the water I have stashed away. I'd send you one of these letters to look at but I haven't been allowed to open one of them yet. Maybe it's a prank on Vernon and Petunia, they've certainly freaked out about them enough, though I don't know anyone who would go to these lengths to prank them. It isn't Dudley which doesn't surprise me of course, he doesn't have that much imagination, but he's as curious about the letters as I am and Vernon and Petunia won't let him see them either which is odd. He's thrown several tantrums about it and they still haven't given in. I don't know when I'm going to be able to send this as they aren't letting me out of the house at the moment. They've even boarded up the letter slot but these letters still get in. If it's not a prank then I think it might have something to do with the freaky power stuff that I can do. The letters must be arriving in some freaky way, about forty of them even came down the chimney like Santa today. Not that I believe in Santa of course, but Dudley still does and when the letters came flying out of the chimney he got very excited, and then extremely upset they were all addressed to me and he wasn't allowed to have them, though Uncle Vernon wouldn't normally care about giving him my things. We were right about someone spying on me here in Britain. The letters were addressed to my bedroom in the cupboard under the stairs which is kind of frightening. I can't believe that even among the other people that have powers they thought it was okay for me to sleep in a cupboard. And if they know that, how much else do they know? Why didn't they come and rescue me? Are the letters from the same person or people who altered my memories and forced me to come back here when I tried to go to the police for help. **_

_**Then when the Dursleys moved me up into Dudley's second bedroom because of the letters, the address on the letters changed to the smallest bedroom the very next morning. Nobody at all came to the house that afternoon or evening so how did they know I'd been given a bedroom let alone which one? Maybe they are watching the house more closely than I thought they were but I don't think they'd have seen this from the outside, my new room faces the back of the house. They'd have to be watching from inside the house somehow, but then why haven't they tried to stop me from using my power to get out of the cupboard at night. If anyone is watching, I hope they got a kick out of Vernon and Petunia's reaction to the letters.**_

_**The Dursleys' reaction makes me think that Vernon and Petunia know what's going on…**_

_**Got to go. The Dursleys are taking me on a road trip. I think they're trying to run away and hide from the stupid letters. I'll post this as soon as I can. We will have to stop for food and petrol eventually. Food especially since Dudley's coming.**_

_**Your Friend **_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	50. Chapter 50

**Chapter 50**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

A/N: Words in bold is direct quotes from the movie. I used this scene from the movie not the books because it fitted into my story better. That's not to say I wont favour the book in other parts.

Harry had managed to send his letter when they stopped for dinner, and in the evening they'd stopped and spent the night at a small hotel but the mysterious letters found them there and Vernon leaded them into the car and rushed away without even packing their belongings. The next day they drove all over the countryside before Vernon rowed them across to a small island off the coast where they virtually camped for the night in the only building on the island, a rickety hut that looked like it had long been abandoned. Harry would have thought it was a fine adventure except for the fact that as they crossed from the mainland a storm was blowing in. He consoled himself that this old hut must have stood up through hundreds of storms, it wasn't likely to blow over just because they were inside it this time.

All of a sudden it seemed like Harry's reasoning was wrong and the hut was going to fall in on their heads. There was a great crashing noise waking Dudley and making him shriek and run for his parents and Harry watch anxiously as the door fell in. Harry hid beside the fireplace. It wasn't much of a hiding spot he thought, for the first time in his life wishing his cupboard was there for the Dursleys to have locked him in for the night.

A wildly ferocious looking giant of a man came in. Dressed in animal skins and a cloak with long bushy hair and beard. Harry cowered down further.

"**Sorry 'bout that," the giant man said picking up the door and putting it back in place **to keep the rain out. Harry wondered if this man had powers like him to stop the door from falling back down now that the lock and hinges were broken.

"**I demand that you leave at once, Sir! You are breaking and entering!" Vernon blustered, pointing an old shotgun at the stranger. **Harry wondered if it was loaded and if Vernon knew how to shoot, not that he was likely to miss at this distance it he pulled the trigger. He also wondered where Vernon had got the gun and if next time he totally lost it whether he would shoot Harry instead of just beating him up.

To Harry's shock instead of ducking or leaving, the stranger comes over, **grabs the gun and bends it upwards. "Dry up, Dursley, you great prune," he said as the gun shoots a hole in the roof.**

**The stranger looked at Dudley. "Mind, I haven't seen you since you was a baby, Harry, but you're a bit more along than I would have expected. Particularly 'round the middle!"**

"**I-I-I'm not Harry," Dudley stammers and looks like he's about to wet himself. **Harry wishes he had a better opportunity to enjoy watching his relatives quake but he couldn't hide forever. The Dursleys would be dragging him out and throwing him at the man in a minute.

"**I-I am," **Harry frowns when he hears his voice quaver a little but at least he was doing a better job at appearing brave than Dudley. At any rate, if this man didn't recognise him then he wasn't one of the people keeping him prisoner at the Dursleys, or wiping his memory.

The stranger grins at him.** "Oh, well, of course you are! Got something for ya. 'Fraid I might have sat on it at some point! I imagine that it'll taste fine just the same. Ahh. Baked it myself. Words and all. Heh."**

**Harry takes the box the stranger holds out, **even though he isn't at all sure he wants to eat anything this unkempt man has made. The restaurant has taught him a lot about safe food handling and to him someone with filthy fingernails in a coat that doesn't look like it's been washed in months isn't likely to exercise good kitchen hygiene**. "Thank you!"**

"**It's not every day that your young man turns eleven, now is it?" Hagrid said.**

Harry looked at him shocked. How did this stranger know it was his birthday?

**Hagrid sits down on the couch, takes out an umbrella and points it at the empty fire. Poof, poof! Two sparks fly out and the fire starts. The family gapes **but Harry looks at the man shrewdly. This stranger had the same powers he had. He wondered if that make the cake even less safe to eat? Then shook himself the cake wasn't important. The use of the power was. How many people could do that, and would Hagrid show him some ways to make learning to do new things easier. Not that he particularly wanted to be able to light fires, the Dursleys didn't have a fireplace.

"**Excuse me, who are you?" Harry asked politely.**

"**Rubeus Hagrid. Keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts. Course, you'll know all about Hogwarts," **the man introduced himself.

"**Sorry, no," Harry replied.**

"**No? Blimey, Harry, didn't you ever wonder where your mum and dad learned it all?" Hagrid asked.**

"**Learnt what?" **Harry asked, though he had some idea, he wasn't sure if he wanted to admit to knowing yet since his relatives hadn't wanted him to know and believed his accidental bursts of powers had stopped happening.

"**You're a wizard, Harry.**

"**I-I'm a what?" Harry asked. **He supposed wizard was as good a word for someone with his powers as any other.

"**A wizard. And a thumping good one at that, I'd wager. Once you train up a little," Hagrid said encouragingly.**

"**No, you've made a mistake. I can't be...a-a wizard. I mean, I'm just... Harry. Just Harry," **he pretended to protest innocently.

"**Well, Just Harry, did you ever make anything happen? Anything you couldn't explain when you were angry or scared?" Hagrid asked.**

Harry thought quickly, he realised that Hagrid thought he could only access his power accidentally when he was stressed. He decided to play along.

**Hagrid handed Harry the same letter that has been sent the past and Harry read it eagerly. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.**

"**Dear, Mr. Potter. We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" he began to read aloud.**

"**He'll not be going! We swore when we took him in wed put an end to this rubbish!" Vernon insisted.**

"**You knew? You knew all along and you never told me**?" Harry made sure he sounded surprised and aggrieved.

"**Of course, we knew. How could you not be? My perfect sister being who she was. Oh, my mother and father were so proud the day she got her letter. We have a witch in the family. Isn't it wonderful? I was the only one to see her for what she was. A freak! And then she met that Potter, and then she had you, and I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as ... abnormal. And then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up! And we got landed with you.**

"**Blown up? You told me my parents died in a car crash!" Harry exclaimed. **Spencer was right his relatives had been lying to him about his parents. He wondered what else they'd lied about.

"**A car crash? A car crash kill James and Lily Potter?" Hagrid asked furiously.**

"**We had to tell him something," Petunia replied.**

"**It's an outrage! It's a scandal!" Hagrid blustered.**

"**He'll not be going!" Vernon refused.**

"**Oh, and I suppose a great Muggle like yourself's going to stop him, are you?" Hagrid asked irritated with the muggle's objections.**

"**Muggle?" Harry asked.**

"**Non magic folk," he said to Harry before turning back to his aunt and uncle. "This boy's had his name down ever since he was born! He's going to the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world, and he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts' has ever seen: Albus Dumbledore."**

"**I will not pay for some crackpot old fool to teach him magic tricks!" Vernon insisted.**

"**Never insult Albus Dumbledore in front of me," Hagrid roared. He pointed his umbrella at Dudley who was scoffing down Harry's cake, and points the umbrella at his rear. A grey tail grows.**

Harry grinned at Hagrid as he knew Hagrid expected him to but inwardly he was freaking out. He was going to be beaten black and blue for this even though he knew it wasn't really his fault and he couldn't blame Hagrid for being upset Dudley was stealing his cake. More than that though, Harry had always worried about his powers hurting someone, to see Hagrid deliberately and so casually do that to Dudley for no good reason meant that he couldn't trust him. He had to play along and keep him from attacking him too. He had to pretend to be a little scared by this whole magic thing and make sure he didn't let on that he already had control of it and that he didn't trust him.

Harry kept his mouth shut until he realised that Hagrid was about to leave with him. "Um Hagrid, can you fix Dudley. Take the tail away. He doesn't know anyone else magical to go to get it fixed. You can't leave him like that," Harry begged.

Hagrid looked taken aback. "I don' think I can fix it," he admitted, slightly embarrassed. "I was tryin' to turn yer cousin into a pig but it din' exactly work. He'll have to go to St Mungo's."

"What's St Mungo's and where is it?" Harry asked.

"The hospital of course," Hagrid replied.

"A magical hospital? How do you get there?" Harry asked.

"By floo," Hagrid said.

"What's floo?" Harry asked.

"Magical travel, by fireplace," Hagrid explained.

"My relatives can't travel by magic. How do you get there without it?" Harry asked.

"I don' righ'ly know," Hagrid said.

"Then how is Dudley going to get rid of his tail?" Harry said beginning to panic. "You have to go and get someone who can fix this or take him to that hospital!"

Hagrid looked uneasy. "We'll send someone," he said, but Harry wasn't sure he believed him.

Harry's next objection occurred when Hagrid climbed into the boat the Dursleys had used to get to the island.

"Where's your boat? Why aren't we taking it?" Harry asked anxiously.

"I din't come by boat. Don' worry I'll send someone to get them," Hagrid replied.

Sighing Harry got on the boat and watched Hagrid use his umbrella to propel it towards the mainland coast.

"Don' tell anyone. Strickly speakin' I'm not allowed to do magic," Hagrid said.

Harry wanted to ask why but decided it might be better not to.

(After the Cannon chapter where Hagrid took Harry from the island and shopping in Diagon Alley.)

After a rather frustrating day where nothing was properly explained and Harry hadn't been allowed t even look around for things other than what was on his school list, Hagrid took Harry back to the station and bought him a ticket back to Greater Whinging where he could catch a connecting bus to Little Whinging and arrive within walking distance of home. As they got to the platform Harry asked him if he'd sent someone to help the Dursleys and Hagrid nodded.

"I mus' do tha'. You'll be righ' to get yerself home?" It didn't seem to occur to Hagrid that eleven year old's generally didn't travel on their own, especially when they'd only been on a train for the first time that morning, or that Harry might not do exactly what he was told and return straight home to the Dursleys or what he'd do when he beat them home and was locked outside for the night, if his relatives were still stuck on that island and had to go to the magical hospital before the long drive home.

"Sure, I'll be fine," Harry replied, watching Hagrid hurry away.

Harry looked at the ticket and realised that it didn't have a train time on it, in fact it was valid for the rest of the day and most of the next day as well, so if he wanted he could go back to Diagon Alley and ask some questions and get some more books before returning home on a later train. He grinned and set out without a second thought to how dangerous it could be for a child to travel alone late at night.

He'd been aware for at least half the day shopping, that Hagrid was hurrying him along, limiting who he met and what questions he could ask and what things especially books he was allowed to purchase and he hadn't wanted to anger the man so had just pretended not to notice and resolved that he would find an opportunity to go back to Diagon Alley on his own before he left for school, and now Hagrid had unintentionally given him one. At first, he'd just assumed Hagrid was in a hurry, which fit with him not taking him all the way back to his relatives, and some of the restrictions made sense no point paying for a golden cauldron when pewter was no doubt better for beginners, but the nervous air as he hurried Harry particularly in the bookshop made him suspicious. He wanted more information and this was the perfect opportunity. It might also be the perfect opportunity to disappear if he didn't like what he learned about the wizarding world since it was almost certainly a wizard who was keeping him at Privet Drive and had set something in the house, park and primary school to limit his magic.

He started his quest for information at Eeylops Owl Emporium… if he was to go to Hogwarts, he needed a way to keep in contact with Spencer.

"I have no idea whether you could send an owl to America, I wouldn't recommend it, it's too far over the sea with nowhere for your owl to rest or hunt," the sales person said uninterestedly. "You should ask at the post office, they offer some sort of international service."

Receiving directions to the post office Harry arrived as they were experiencing a rush of deliveries to be sent out at the end of the business day and the workers had no time for what they thought was a muggleborn with silly questions, so he went back to Gringotts and asked them if he could exchange some Galleons for Pounds then asked them to take him back to his vault for a little more money. He didn't exchange that much knowing that he have to hide the money and the clothing and things he bought or the Dursleys would take from him but he planned to buy himself a pair of jeans and a couple of T-shirts and some warm jumpers, winter pyjamas, underwear and socks which Hagrid hadn't given him time to buy earlier because they weren't on his Hogwarts' supplies list, even though he was sure he was expected to bring them to school with him, and hide them in his trunk for use at school. It had to be brought before he went home so Harry could hide the things in the bottom of his trunk. The most important purchase though would be stamps and envelopes. Enough to send at least a couple of international letters to his only friend each month for the entire school year since he didn't know if he would be able to buy more at school and planned to spend the holidays there if possible.

He remembered that when Spencer had told him he thought Vernon and Petunia could be lying about his parents he'd also wondered if they were possibly being paid to look after Harry and asked the goblin driving the cart if there was a way to find out about any payments or deductions coming out of his account.

"You'll need to talk to an account manager," the goblin driving the cart said gruffly, he hadn't offered his name.

"Thank you, do I need to make an appointment with the Account Manager?" Harry asked.

"Shouldn't do, just ask to see them," the goblin replied.

"Okay. Who do I need to ask and how do I do it?" Harry asked.

"I'll take you after you get your money," the goblin offered.

Harry smiled. "Thank you," he said politely.

The account manager looked even more severe and Harry quickly got to the point after being glared at for saying hello.

"I want to know if someone is taking money from my account to pay my relatives for looking after me and to stop the payments while I'm at school," he said.

The goblin nodded, it seemed more than reasonable to him not to want to pay for a service you weren't receiving. "Name," he demanded.

"Oh… I'm Harry Potter," Harry almost stammered.

"There are a lot of payments coming out of your account. Which one do you want stopped?" the account manager asked.

"Anything to Vernon Dursley, or Petunia Dursley or Dudley Dursley, but what other payments are there?" Harry said confused.

"To your magical guardian Albus Dumbledore, payments to Mundungus Fletcher, and Hepburn Whitsone for maintaining the wards on the house at 4 Privet Drive and the surrounding neighbourhood, a monthly stipend to Arabella Figg and one to Remus Lupin …" the account manager said.

"I've never met or heard of these people, who started these payments," Harry interrupted.

"The charitable payment to St Mungo's was started by your grandfather, the stipend to Remus Lupin by your father and the rest by your magical guardian," the account manager said frowning. "He shouldn't have had that much access to your accounts."

"If he's my guardian he should also have been looking after me and I've never met him. Stop all the payments he started, including the one to him. Can you recall the money he paid himself since it was for doing a job he didn't do? And can you make it so he doesn't know that I know about the payments and that I cancelled them?" Harry said angrily.

"I can certainly stop the payments and have him removed from accessing your account for dereliction of the duty of a magical guardian, but he will know it has happened even if he won't know that you approached me and asked for it," The account manager said.

"Okay. I still want it done. I don't want him to have that sort of power over me," Harry said decisively.

"Do you want the wards at 4 Privet Drive maintained?" the account manager asked.

"Would it be the wards that make my magic weaker when I'm there?" Harry asked.

"You can feel that your magic is weaker?" the account manager asked impressed.

"Yes, there seems to be a lot less of it and it's harder to do things and it takes a lot longer to build back up after I've used it if I don't go outside, the further I get from the Dursley's house the stronger my magic seems to be," Harry explained.

"Wards could be set to do that if they're using your magic to power the protection, but there's no good reason for it and you should barely notice the difference," the account manager said frowning thoughtfully and planning to reclaim the money spent on those wards if the warders couldn't come up with a very good explanation why they were in Harry Potter's best interest.

"I more than barely notice. There's a big difference in how hard it is to do things. What else could do that?" Harry asked.

"A magical syphon," the account manager said frowning.

"How do I find out?" Harry asked.

"I could send a ward breaker out to asses the wards for you and look for a syphon, for a fee of course," the account manager said.

"No thanks, if they stop maintaining the wards how quickly would they fall?" Harry asked.

"That depends on how strong they are, an assessment would tell you that," the account manager said.

"I'll be gone for the school year, if they're still there causing a problem in June, I'll consider it," Harry replied.

The account manager clearly dismissed him and he thoughtfully made his way out of the bank. He had the name of his enemy now and unfortunately, it was the same name that Hagrid had spent the day praising. Just badmouthing Dumbledore had caused Hagrid to give Dudley that horrible pig tail and it wasn't even him that said anything. And he was the headmaster of Hogwarts. Harry didn't have much contact with the headmaster of his primary school but he wondered if that would be different at a boarding school? Thank heavens that he hadn't trusted the overly large wizard. What should he do now? He wished Spencer was there to talk things over with.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	51. Chapter 51

**Chapter 51**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

He decided quickly that no matter what he decided to do he needed new clothes to blend in, the rags the Dursley's gave him stuck out like a sore thumb everywhere he went, and he wanted to know more about magic and the magical world, and find a way to send and receive letters with Spencer, before he decided. He was going to put it all out of his mind for a moment and finish his shopping and head home like a good little boy would if he was still in the dark about Dumbledore then write to Spencer for advice, read his books and try to find if there was a way to use magic to get himself to America and if there was a school he could go to there instead.

Tackling his non-magical shopping first he found a store not far from the Leaky Cauldron and bought jeans and T-shirts the same as he'd seen the other kids in his class wearing, then hurried back to Flourish and Blott's and brought more books about the wizarding world. This time asking the man at the desk for some help. Mr Blott also thought he was a muggleborn but not being a blood purist and impressed by the small boy's manners helped him out with several introductory books. "I know it seems a lot with all your textbooks as well but these will teach you the basics which most of the wizarding children will already know. And this book of etiquette will help you get along. It's easy to insult people without meaning to if you don't understand each other's ways. I have a muggleborn friend and he told me that the best trick to adjusting to the magical world is to stop thinking that witches and wizards belong to the same England as muggles do, they don't. Wizarding and Muggle Britain have been separated for centuries since before America was settled let alone declared independence, you need to treat it like a foreign country with foreign beliefs and customs and you'll get along a lot better if you try to learn those beliefs and follow those customs," he said, pleased that one student looked like he'd actually take his advice. He had tried for years to get some or all of these texts on the recommended list for muggle raised students but the board of governors had declined the need to make anything easier for muggleborns and few parents were willing to buy so many books that weren't on the booklist.

Harry nodded easily able to understand. He remembered how he and Spencer had had misunderstood each other several times because some of the same words had a different meaning in American than they had in British English and the way things were done in Vegas was very different to life in Surrey. "Thank you," he said.

"You're welcome lad. Don't take any of that pureblood nonsense seriously, some of the strongest wizards and witches I know have been halfbloods and muggleborns," Mr Blott told him.

"You wouldn't happen to know if it is possible to send an owl letter to California in America? Will it hurt my owl to fly so far?" Harry asked. "Or is there another way for me to send a letter from Hogwarts to my friend in California and for him to send me letters?"

"Well now, I don't know. I've never tried to send a letter or parcel that far. I think you ought to read this as well," Mr Blott said producing a thin booklet on the care for owls.

"Are there other school's for learning magic?" Harry asked.

"There are in other countries but Hogwarts is the best in the world. There's a school in Wales and another in Ireland and one here in London for students who haven't got the magical talent to get into Hogwarts but you've got your letter haven't you?" Mr Blott asked.

"Yes I've got a letter from Hogwarts and the booklist but I was asking about other countries. So all countries have a magical community and school?"

"Well there's two major schools in Europe and probably half a dozen hedge schools, there's three or more magical schools in North America and one in Egypt, there are sure to be others," Mr Blott said.

"Do you have a book comparing the different schools?" Harry asked. "And do you know how I might go about getting invited to one of those schools?"

"No Harry I don't. I would imagine you could write to the headmasters and headmistresses and ask to be enrolled but why would you want to?" Mr Blott asked surprised.

"I just want to know that I don't need to give up magic if I don't like Hogwarts," Harry quickly tried to explain.

"No worries about that then. Everyone loves Hogwarts, there's something really special about the feel of the place," Mr Blott reassured him.

"Thanks Sir, one more thing, something happened to me a couple of months ago and afterwards nobody could remember it. Is there a book on that sort of magic? Magic that can make people forget?" Harry asked.

"There's a spell called Obliviate but it's not something a student should be mucking about with, it's an Auror level spell," Mr Blott said sternly. "The ministry obliviators use it to hide magic from the muggles. I wouldn't worry about learning it, once you start using your wand you won't keep having bursts of accidental magic." That actually sounded ominous to Harry, could his wand prevent him from being able to access his powers without it? If so, then why would they encourage witches and wizards to use one? Part of Harry was now desperate to run and hide somewhere and make sure he could still use his powers to make lights and lock and unlock doors. He clamped down on his panic, now wasn't the time to worry about that, he needed more information.

Harry backpedalled a bit. "Oh, I don't want to make people forget things, that would be horrid. But is there a way of stopping someone from doing that to me? I don't want to forget," Harry deliberately made himself look as frightened as he could. If Dumbledore was his enemy then he needed to know whether someone was mucking about with his memories at school or if he tried to leave again.

Mr Blott frowned thoughtfully. "There's a branch of magic called occlumency. It's not dark, though the ministry frowns on the teaching of it and it takes years to master but if you like you could read about it," he said leading Harry into one of the dusty back rooms of the shop.

Harry grabbed both of the beginner's books available and added them to his pile, "I think I ought to stop now unless there's something else you think is important, or I won't be able to fit everything in my trunk," Harry said.

"Show me your trunk and I'll show you how to turn on the expansion charms and the featherweight charm on it for you too so you can carry it home. He took Harry out the back and unshrunk the trunk Harry got out of his pocket.

"This doesn't have expansion or weight reduction charms, and you will need them for all these books. Come with me lad and we'll exchange it for one that does," Mr Blott said realising that not all of the boy's current purchases would fit into the trunk without shrinking items so that he wouldn't have access to them until he arrived at school and asked an older student to unshrink them for him, let alone some of the other things he thought the boy should have. He reshrunk the trunk and shrunk the packages of books, then let his partner know he was leaving the bookstore for a bit before leading Harry towards the trunk store. "You still haven't told me your name lad?"

"Harry Potter, sir," Harry said quietly trying not to draw the attention of passers-by.

Mr Blott gave him a sharp look, finally recognising the bright green eyes that were so similar to another muggle raised student who'd taken his advice twenty years ago, "I knew your mother, well both your parents, but it was your mum that loved books. Right then, let's get this trunk sorted. Leave it to me." 

-o0o-

"No exchanges or refunds!" Archibald Tygeral said impatiently as Mr Blott unshrunk the trunk, "he can either pay to have it customised or buy another trunk. I can't sell a used trunk."

"But I've never even put anything in it," Harry protested. Hagrid had brought the trunk at the end of the day and his purchases were all still shrunk in his pockets.

"Come then Mr Potter, if you need to buy a new trunk I'm sure you can get a better deal from Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment," Mr Blott said turning to walk out, winking at Harry. "Of course, they logo all their trunks with their business name which I think is a little crass but, given who you are they're sure to give you a hefty discount to have The-Boy-Who-Lived using a trunk with their logo on it."

"Wait a minute, he doesn't want one of them trunks. The-Boy-Who-Lived wants quality!" Archibald declared.

"And yet you had no qualms selling him this rubbish and refusing to exchange it for something better, it doesn't even have basic expansion charms and security he needs," Mr Blott said disapprovingly.

"I never," Archibald said affronted.

"I bought it here this afternoon Sir, when I came in with Hagrid," Harry said politely.

"So, we want to exchange this trunk with a better quality trunk with expansion charms, your best long lasting weight reduction charms and top of the line security," Mr Blott said firmly. "And after your mistreatment of the boy, we expect a hefty discount as compensation."

"I have this lovely 4 compartment trunk, that includes a library trunk in the first compartment, Drawers and hanging space in the second and stasis charms on the third for potion ingredients and equipment, in top condition, and space for miscellaneous items like a broomstick in the fourth."

"Can you get a trunk that has a room inside it," Harry asked wondering if it would be possible to mail himself to Spencer.

"No, you can't keep living things in the trunk the stasis charms make it airtight," Archibald replied, shaking his head at the stupidity.

"You'd want a magical tent for that sort of thing Harry, and space to put it up, you can keep furniture and things in a tent when it's folded up but you must never leave your owl inside it," Mr Blott said without thinking about why he probably shouldn't say such a thing to an eleven year old boy.

Harry grinned, but didn't ask about them, he could see that the trunk shop didn't have that sort of thing but there'd be plenty of time for exploring the other shops when he came home from Hogwarts at the end of the year, or when he left the Dursleys, whichever came first if he didn't have time today, since he couldn't use it to post himself to America either it wasn't a priority for the moment.

"He will want his initials on the top like all the other students have, and your strongest keyless locking wards attuned to his magical signature," Mr Blotts said firmly.

"Can you make it so that my Uncle can't throw it in the fire or take an axe to it?" Harry asked hopefully. "Better yet if he can't go near it at all."

"Of course, of course," Archibald said agreeably. "I'll put a muggle notice me not charm on it and he won't even notice it, unless you leave it in his way and he falls over it. That will only take a moment. "I'll need a drop of your blood young man."

"Why would you worry about your uncle destroying your trunk Harry?" Mr Blott asked suspiciously, he'd noticed that the boy looked a little too thin and smaller than most of the new first years but hadn't taken much notice. Some children just were smaller than others and Harry was also one of the youngest in his year level too. But this comment made him think there might be a more sinister reason he was small.

"My Uncle doesn't want me to go to Hogwarts," Harry said quickly. "He wants me to stay home and go to the local comprehensive. He's not a big fan of magic."

Blott accepted this for the moment, and watched carefully as Archibald used the blood to key the trunk to Harry and then vanished the remaining blood while the trunk maker added the initials in gold to the top of the trunk.

"You need to be careful what happens to your blood when you bleed Harry. There's a lot of dark blood magic that can be used against you if the wrong person gets hold of it," Mr Blott warned him.

"Thank you for the warning, thank you for fixing my trunk too," Harry said.

"If you don't mind some more advice Harry, you'll get better service in a lot of shops on the Alley if you're dressed like a wizard, some people who assume you're muggleborn will try to take advantage of your ignorance of our world and cheat you" Mr Blott said, glaring at the trunk maker.

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "The boy in Madam Malkin's said he didn't think wizards from muggle families belonged at Hogwarts," he said.

"He's wrong Mr Potter. Muggleborn witches and wizards are every bit as good at magic as those that can trace their families back hundreds of years and your mother was one of the best, but unfortunately that doesn't stop the bigots. And even those of us that don't believe in pureblood superiority like to see people making an effort to fit into our culture. Did you buy any clothes other than your uniform?"

"No, Hagrid would only let me buy the things on the list," Harry replied.

"Well the shops are closing, there's no way to fix that tonight but remember Harry, next time you come to the alley go and buy yourself some casual robes to wear shopping and on the weekends at Hogwarts. You'll fit in better, and ask for quality, you can afford it and people will expect the Potter heir to be well dressed," Mr Blott said.

"I will thank you Mr Blott. But I don't think I will get back to the Alley this summer," Harry replied.

"Send Madam Malkins and Gladrags your owl in the morning asking for their owl order service and they'll send you their catalogues. Madam Malkin will have kept your measurements on file," Mr Blott advised.

"Yes Sir. Do you have owl order?" Harry asked.

"I do, I'll have you sent a catalogue though you have more than enough books to be going on with. You should read all the introductory books and at least the first quarter of all your school books before you leave for school," Mr Blott replied. "Get on now, you need to get home before your family start to worry."

"They won't worry," Harry replied. "Good evening Sir."

"Good evening Mr Potter."

-o0o-

Harry left stopped in 'The Leaky Cauldron' and locked himself into the bathroom. Remembering what had happened when he tried to make the strongest light he could in the restaurant bathroom he started trying to make a reading light and slowly increasing the brightness until he had to cover his eyes with his other hand. He had no trouble with it, nor with unlocking the door which relieved him. so it wasn't owning a wand or bonding with it or whatever had happened in Ollivander's that caused him to be dependent on it. Perhaps it was learning to use his wand to do magic that stopped him from being able to do it without it, or maybe it was like when he used his magic on purpose everyday it was less likely to explode without warning but that wasn't really the answer because his power still got away from him at the zoo recently. Still he didn't want to take the chance, he wanted to be able to use his power whenever he needed it.

Sighing he left the bathroom to put his other plan in place. He asked Tom the barman if he sold meals to take away and packed his trunk with enough meals to last until at least September first even if the Dursleys locked him in his room for the entire month. He knew that he could no longer rely on Petunia to go behind Vernon's back after what happened during the early hours of the morning.

He left 'The Leaky Cauldron' and stopped at a café for dinner while considering his options. He could disappear. His trunk was in his pocket and while he couldn't live in it he could keep all his things safe and possibly go back to Diagon Alley in the morning and look for a magical tent. There wasn't anything at Privet Drive he really wanted other than a bit of money and the letters from Spencer, and if someone was keeping an eye on him in Little Whinging this would be the ideal place to disappear from. He could by a new train ticket to just about anywhere in the country and go. The thing was that Hogwarts sounded amazing. He wanted to go in spite of Hagrid's suspicious behaviour and the fact that it might have been the Hogwarts' headmaster who had messed with his memories to keep him at Privet Drive, and if he was going to Hogwarts then it might be better if he didn't go missing for the month before school started and then show up for the train. Better to let whoever was keeping an eye on him think that they still had Harry as ignorant and under their control as they wanted him.

Harry got himself back to the station without fuss and was able to catch the next train to Greater Whinging using the ticket Hagrid had purchased for him earlier. It was dark when he arrived but the last bus of the day to Little Whinging was about to board and it was only a few blocks from the bus stop to Privet Drive. An easy walk since his things were now all packed in his trunk shrunk in his pocket.

To say the Dursleys weren't pleased to see him sitting waiting for them on the back steps when they returned the next morning was putting it mildly but still frightened by the idea they might be being watched they allowed the boy to keep sleeping in Dudley's second bedroom and kept his chores to a minimum.

He hurried up to his bedroom tired out but excited to finish writing to his friend about all that had happened.

_**Dear Spencer,**_

_**I've found out what all the weird things that happen around me are? You'll have trouble believing this but I swear I'm telling the truth. It's called magic, I'm a wizard, and you were right, the Dursleys knew I am. I told you about the prank letters I was getting that upset Vernon and Petunia so much. Turns out they aren't a prank they were invitations to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the school somehow knew I wasn't getting the letters, that's why they kept sending more. It's still bloody foolish if you ask me, if I didn't reply to the first dozen then what's another hundred going to do? Anyway they weren't being delivered by hand like I thought, they hadn't come through the regular post because wizards use owls to deliver mail, and they expected me to just know to send my acceptance letter back by owl without explaining how to do it.**_

_**Finally, they sent someone to talk to us. His name was Hagrid and he seemed really friendly most of the time though he looks a bit big and scary but he cursed Dudley and then when he said he couldn't fix it he didn't take them to the magical hospital or to someone cleverer with their magic than he is to have it fixed either. Hagrid behaved a bit oddly while we were shopping too, as if he was trying to stop me from learning too much about the wizarding world which is a bit stupid seeing as I'm going to go to school there. Apparently, there's a whole wizarding world in Britain, hidden from the regular world and my parents were a witch and wizard. I didn't believe him at first but he started a fire in the grate like I did in your hideout and an owl came and delivered the newspaper, the pictures move. I've sent you the front page as proof since I know you like to see things for yourself. I sent it separate to this letter in case someone stops magical stuff being sent through the post, so you'd still get my letter. Tell me if you got it when you write back so I'll know whether or not to send something else.**_

_**I don't know if there's a wizarding world in America too but I guess there probably is. The frustrating thing is that nobody in Diagon Alley seemed interested in anything that happens outside Britain and looked at me as if I was mad when I asked how wizards send letters to America since they use owls around England and I think America would be too far for them. Don't try to research this Spencer, I'm afraid that you could get in trouble and they'd wipe your memory. Magic is kept secret from the rest of the world and I'm not allowed to tell anyone about it. It's a law called the 'Statute of Secrecy.' Hagrid said that it's an international law all around the world. They said the only non-wizarding people I'm allowed to let find out about magic and being a wizard and going to Hogwarts are my Aunt and Uncle and Dudley because I live with them and they already would know about the accidental magic I've done as a kid, but I figured you already knew too, because you saw it happen when I was living in the hideout and I told you all about the freaky things my relatives blamed me for and I did live in your hideout while I was in America, so I'm not really breaking the law and anyway I'm not about to start lying to my best friend. **_

_**My relatives knew about magic, my mother had it too, they admitted it to Hagrid and the reason they were upset when they saw the first letter is that they've been trying to beat it out of me. I haven't done any accidental magic in front of them since I got back from Vegas, as you know, healing you taught me that I could control it a little even though I couldn't stop it when I'm upset and it gets harder to control if it builds up in me too much, so I've been using to it to make light and keep me warm at night and other stuff when I was sure they weren't around, it's getting easier and easier to do. They thought I'd stopped, that they'd succeeded in getting rid of it in me up until the incident with the snake enclosure glass at the zoo, which I'm becoming more and more sure that Vernon and Dudley don't remember. They don't want me in their home even more now that I'm going to Hogwarts. It turns out that my parents did leave me money and they were being paid to look after me, you were right my relatives have been lying to me about Mum and Dad. My father was a magical policeman and my Mum had an apprenticeship in a type of magic called Charms before she fell pregnant with me. They weren't in a car accident either, they were murdered. I don't know the whole story yet but they were murdered by a dark wizard who killed lots of people wizards and normal people too. He tried to kill me and something stopped him, nobody knows what and he hasn't been heard of since. Everyone was so afraid of him they wouldn't even say his name, they still won't. So wizards think it was something I did and I'm famous or something. A bit stupid if you ask me! What could a baby do against a dark wizard that sounds more like a super-villan than a normal person? No doubt his evil deeds and strength have been exaggerated, but I have no idea how I ended up in the story of his destruction just because he didn't kill me the night he killed my parents.**_

_**Hagrid took me to a place called Diagon Alley which is the magical shopping district in London to buy my school supplies, a magic wand, a cauldron and the most disgusting smelling ingredients for potions, parchment and quills, uniform robes that look a bit like a loose long black dress but at least I'll be dressed exactly the same as everyone else. But the best thing about Hogwarts is that it is a boarding school and my cousin Dudley didn't get an invitation, not that his parents would let him go anyway, so I won't have to see any of them for nine whole months if I can stay there over the holidays. **_

_**The worst thing about Hogwarts is that the headmaster is a man named Albus Dumbledore and the goblins told me that he is my magical guardian even though I've never met him. He's the one that arranged for the Dursleys to be paid to keep me so I assume he probably gave me to them in the first place. He also paid for the house to be warded, originally when I was left there and again when I was five and the last time the week after I tried to go to the police and was healed and made to forget, so he must have been involved in that somehow. The goblins told me that wards are not supposed to affect the magic levels of the people who live there but that they could be set up with a magical syphon which would do that. As we suspected it had to have been done deliberately and there was no reason for it other than making my powers weaker in the house and surrounding areas. My Hogwarts letter said that the headmaster is also the chief Warlock of the Wizengamot and the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, whatever than means. I asked about these titles and they both sound like they should be full time jobs so if Albus Dumbledore has three full time jobs I can't be absolutely sure that he intended me to be abused or if he just didn't have time to notice, likewise my enemy could be one of the people that did the actual warding work and Dumbledore just trusted the wrong person. I don't want him to be my enemy, I want to go to Hogwarts and be safe. It all sound so amazing and I don't know what I should do. I know I should have thought about all this before I got on the train, it would be easier to disappear from London provided he doesn't have some magical way of finding me wherever I am. But I decided to put it out of my mind and finish my shopping. I'm going to need clothes to blend in and books to learn from even if I don't go to Hogwarts, in case I did decide to go back to the Dursleys and didn't get another chance to get away to visit Diagon Alley.**_

_**Hagrid said my Mum was the first magic user in her family, that happens sometimes but my Dad came from a long line of magic users which might be why none of his family or friends came to see me in the regular world. Hagrid used the term Muggle for the normal nonmagical world, he didn't seem to know much about it, he was fascinated by the tube and pound notes and a dozen other things. It seems like the witches and wizards mostly stick to magical enclaves, they even have their own money. And my parents had left money for me it just wasn't in pounds and the wizarding world doesn't seem to use electricity or telephones so the only way to get the money is to come to Gringotts Bank and speak to the Goblins, all far too abnormal for the Dursleys. At least it prevented them from stealing my money. Though maybe they would have tried if they knew how much money was in my vault.**_

_**I don't know whether it's normal for wizards but Hagrid is about three meters tall and solid. He looks like he could pick up a cow and carry it like I would a medium size dog, none of the other witches and wizards in Diagon Alley were that tall though, they were all about the same heights as normal people. He's got long hair and a wild bushy beard and us a bit unkempt with a big deep voice and broad west country accent and mice in his pockets. I think he looks about forty but mentally he doesn't seem to be much older than us and clearly almost worships the Headmaster. I don't think he normally shows new students around, or maybe he's just new at it. He doesn't exactly blend in in our world so he isn't a good choice for first contacts. I wonder why they sent him. Surely, they must have some normal looking teachers. In fact, I know they do, Hagrid introduced me to one of the other professors and he looked normal enough except for his clothing and nerves. But he acted like he was scared of everything so he wouldn't have been a good choice to introduce families to the wizarding world either. I don't think he'll be a very good teacher either with his stutter. I'm hoping that the rest of the teachers are better.**_

_**Anyway, I'm on the train back to the Dursleys and I'll post this on my way home. Yeah, I can hear you say it. Yes, Hagrid left an eleven year old alone in a London train station I'd never been to before to get myself back home, not even knowing if my relatives had returned from their trip away. I'm glad he did though. I was able to go back to Diagon Alley and learn a lot more before catching a later train. Hagrid was really insistent that I didn't buy anything not on the Hogwarts' book and equipment list and hurried me through so I didn't have the time to ask the questions I wanted. **_

_**I'm dreading going back to the Dursleys, Hagrid gave Dudley a pig's tail, a literal curly tail like a pig poking out the top of his trousers not what the girls call pigtails, and then he couldn't remove it. He said he would send someone to fix it and I thought he should do that straight away but he took me shopping without doing anything about it. I asked about it again when he bought my train ticket home and he kind of agreed he had to do something but they've spent the whole day trapped on that tiny island Vernon where took us to hide from the letters, Hagrid and I took their boat. I didn't want to but I don't know how Hagrid got to the island because he said he didn't have another way to get off it. They're going to be so furious with me, even though they heard me ask Hagrid to take the tail away and to send someone to help them.**_

_**I thought about running away, but I didn't think to ask the goblins if my family still owns a house or how to find a place to stay. And I should have told them about what happened last time I tried to leave the Dursleys and asked if there was a magical way to make sure I couldn't be found and caught. Not that I think they'd let an eleven year old live on his own. Still there's only a month to go before I leave for school, and I thought that if Dumbledore's at the school I shouldn't go there if he knows I've left the Dursleys and stopped him from being able to find me. I already did something that I think I might regret. When I spoke to the Goblin at Gringotts I told him enough that he had Dumbledore removed from being my magical guardian at least as far as the bank goes and all the payments to him and the Dursleys and other people I'd never heard of stopped. So he's going to find out about that at some stage, the account manager goblin told me that he won't know it was instigated by me, just that someone told them enough to have him removed for dereliction of duty, but I think he's going to suspect that I said something. I should have waited. Maybe I should get off the train and go back to Gringotts and ask the goblins not to do anything but I don't see why I should be giving my parents' money to these people. **_

_**I bought a heap of books, the bookshop owner was really helpful and he sold me some books on the culture and the history and a muggleborn's guide to fitting in. He was one of the few people who wasn't condescending to me but he said I'll be treated better by other shopkeepers and wizards if I look like a proper wizard. If the newspaper gets to you I'll send you some of these books when I finish reading them.**_

_**Your Friend **_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	52. Chapter 52

**Chapter 52**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Spencer was astounded at the latest letter from Harry. Though after the shock wore off a bit, he supposed that he shouldn't be so surprised. He'd known about Harry having some mysterious power that not only moved things and lit up the night, it could heal him and make the bullies want to back off, and from what had happened when Harry tried to go to the police for help they'd known Harry wasn't the only one able to do what he could do and that the other person or people who'd sent him back to the Dursleys had been able to do a lot of things that he and Harry had never imagined could be done. They'd speculated about their being a community of people who had powers like Harry though he never guessed that that community would be as large and self-governed as the wizarding world seemed to be with their own school and hospital and both British and international governments separate to the rest of the world. And if they had their own school, it made sense that they'd be contacting Harry now as he was about to start what the British called secondary school.

What didn't make sense was with this much of a developed society so very deliberately keeping itself separate from the nonmagical world, why Harry had been excluded from it for the last ten years. Not that he wasn't glad that he had been, Spencer would never have met him otherwise but it didn't make sense. Especially since Harry's powers were so strong that he had trouble controlling them and when someone had been keeping a secretive eye on him this whole time. He wished that he could actually talk to Harry, ask questions and hear the answers straight away and listen to the whole story so he could give more useful and meaningful advice. He would also like to be involved in the excitement of the whole thing, to have Harry take him to Diagon Alley, to meet the goblins, and to read through the text books together.

_Tuesday 8/6/91_

_Dear Harry, _

_It all sounds too fantastic to be true, and I was surprised until I thought it through and realised the most shocking thing about this secret society is the powers the people in it have and I already knew you had them. We also speculated that someone from their society would eventually make contact with you so while I wasn't expecting it to happen now, I feel like I should have been waiting for it to happen at any time. _

_I guess calling it Magic is as good an explanation for the impossible things you can do that defy all laws of physics and biology and everything else, as any other explanation would be. But it still seems lacking in really giving us knowledge of what's going on. Sure, calling it magic rather than mysterious power thingies is slightly more convenient but it's just a better label. Did they explain how it all works, what causes it and why some people have it and others don't like your mother and her sister? It sounds like it could be partly genetic but that doesn't fully explain it either. From what you said in some families it is a dominant trait and in others it can sometimes become a recessive trait like red hair that can pop up generations later if both parents have the recessive gene._

_And they did have their own hidden society like we thought they must, whoever they were. I wonder though, why you were left outside of the society and not kept within it when your parent's died. Surely your father had relatives or they had friends that could have taken you. Did Hagrid give you a reason or a way to contact the magical side of your family?_

_I did get your page of newspaper with the moving pictures. The pictures are brilliant but the articles seem to lack hard facts and be made up mostly of sensationalism and speculation. None of them would ever have been published even in the worst local newspapers let alone a national daily paper. The clothes in the pictures look like they come from oxford university in another century. I wonder why they are so different to regular clothes, surely dressing so differently would make it much harder to hide their society. Which really doesn't make any sense, they can't be that totally isolated if their main shopping centre is in the middle of London even if you do have to walk through a pub and use a wand to get into it. What do the goblins look like, are they similar to humans but with pointy ears like Vulcans on Star trek or more like Yoda in Star wars? _

_It's great that you'll be going to boarding school and be away from the Dursleys, somewhere where you will be fed properly every day, though I'll warn you not to have too high an expectation of institutional food, and have the opportunity to do your best in class. You will have the opportunity to make new friends. You didn't say what subjects other than potions that your school will teach you. Does it teach normal subjects like math, science and English grammar and literature? History and Geography and all the other subjects you would've taken next year? Am I going to be able to write you at school? You didn't send me the address. Of course, I'll understand if you drop our correspondence once you have friends in school with you._

_Be careful at school Harry, Dumbledore might be more neglectful than malevolent but he might not be. Still you'll be only one of a large number of students and if he does have three full time jobs, like you think he does, he's not going to have much time to notice you and interfere with your plans if it looks like you're going along with what he wants. It also worries me that you thought Hagrid was trying to stop you from finding out something. Your description of him made it sound like he wasn't likely to be doing that of his own accord, he was following someone else's order or advice so you don't know what he was trying to hide from you or who was trying to keep you ignorant. Learn all you can Harry but you might want to be a little sneaky about it. I hate to say it but it might be a good thing that you've got plenty of experience in pretending not to know things. That doesn't mean I don't expect you to get decent marks, just not to be the top of your class or to do well enough to stand out. It's going to be hard to blend in when you don't really know what they expect of you. _

_One thing I know they will expect though is that having been living with her sister you'll know all about your mom. So even if some of the teachers have been at the school long enough to have taught your parents you mustn't ask about her. Ask about your dad, it would be normal enough for Petunia not to have known all that much about him. I know this will be hard for you and I'm sorry but I think it might be important until you're sure you trust someone enough to tell them about your home life and the abuse. I also know this might make it harder to try to find somewhere else to stay for the holidays but I just don't want you to risk trusting the wrong people. Wait and get to know them as well as you can first._

_Your Friend_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	53. Chapter 53

**Chapter 53**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Wednesday 14/8/91**_

_**Dear Spencer,**_

_**For a genius you can be a daft git sometimes. I have no intentions of dropping our friendship. You didn't stop writing to me when you made new friends in college why would you think I'd want to stop writing to you just because I have the opportunity to make new friends? What did I say to make you stop trusting me?**_

_**Unfortunately, at the moment, I have to admit that I have no idea how we are going to manage to write to each other from Hogwarts. I think I mentioned to you in my last letter that wizards don't use normal mail delivery, instead their letters are written on parchment sealed with wax or rolled into a scroll and carried by post owls. Hagrid gave me one for my birthday but I'm trying to make sure it's safe for her to travel so far before I send her to you. Nobody could give me a straight answer. None of the people I spoke to seemed to understand why anyone would want to write to someone in America. As to telling you the address for the school I don't know it. The letter I got from them doesn't say an address, and all Hagrid could tell me is that it's somewhere in Scotland. They have their own train so the ticket didn't tell me anything about where the school is either. So, it may be a couple of weeks before you hear from me once I go to Hogwarts, but that doesn't mean that you're not still my first friend and you need to trust me that I am still trying to find a way to contact you.**_

_**Now I know that you can get magical things, I'm sending you a book about protecting your mind from the spell that makes you forget things. I don't know if it will work for you without magic, hell I don't even know if it will work for me but I've been practicing it since the day Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley. I can't tell if I have done enough that it will work against the obliviate spell or against someone else reading my thoughts but it seems to have improved my memory. It's still not as good as yours though. Don't worry about me giving you the book, I bought this copy for you, I have one of my own to refer to and I'm working hard at learning it. I hope that you will too.**_

_**My Hogwarts booklist didn't include any math or science texts or novels or anything else I'd expect to see on my booklist for Stonewall Secondary. It is all magical books Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, Herbology and Astronomy. I didn't even see any normal schoolbooks in the bookshop on Diagon Alley. I know you would recommend that I try to apply to a correspondence school or summer school to keep up with normal subjects, and I know you're probably right, but I don't know that I can without an adult to support the application. I can't see the Dursleys allowing me to do it. I also want to see how hard the work is at Hogwarts before I commit myself to a whole lot more as well. I am going to try to buy the textbooks I would have used if I went to Stonewall High next year so I can read them at least then I'll learn the information, even if I won't get the credit for passing the year level.**_

_**My supply list also included a cauldron for potions, dragon-hide gloves, and quills and parchment rolls instead of pens and notebooks or paper, as well as the school uniform of old-fashioned robes like in the newspaper pictures. The stores were lit with candles and lanterns, not a sign of electrical switches or power-points anywhere or anything plastic or vinyl or that looked like it could run on batteries or have been made in this century in our world, and the whole place looked a bit like a living history museum, even most of the children and teenagers seemed to be in costume. One of the storekeepers suggested that I would be treated better if I wore a robe like the wizard raised students. Apparently, there is a prejudice against the nonmagical world and witches and wizards from nonmagical families.**_

_**I don't get to watch a lot of movies so I can't tell you which characters the goblins look most like but they're really short, none of them was more than about one meter tall. They're all wrinkly with pointy ears that stick straight out sideward and their skin is kind of a bronzy colour but not like a sun tan, more a bronzy white colour. They have incredibly long fingers and finger nails and noses almost like a beak shape, but their arms and legs are a lot shorter than their bodies. They're dressed in old fashioned suits, some of them even wore cravats rather than ties, and they physically keep your money in a vault under the bank accessed by carts driven by a goblin, riding in them feels like I'd imagine a rollercoaster in a dark narrow tunnel would feel. Goblin money is all coins the Galleons are gold and about the size of my palm and worth about fifty pounds, Silver Sickles and Bronze Knuts are the other coins but it's not a metric system. There are 17 Sickles in a Galleon and 29 Knuts in a Sickle. They'd weigh a ridiculous amount if you put them in a normal bag but the goblins gave me a bag that fits in my pocket and only weighs as much as Uncle Vernon's wallet no matter how much I put in it. I guess working out what to pay will help me with my mental arithmetic if nothing else.**_

_**No surprises that the Dursleys weren't happy to see me again, especially dragging a trunk full of magical things. They were home when I got there and basically pushed me into my new room and told me to stay there, which suits me because I have heaps of reading to do, and I packed a heap of food in my trunk to eat. The compartment the owner of the trunk shop said was for potions and ingredients has a stasis charm so everything stays fresh until I want to eat it. Which is good because it's going to be a whole lot harder to sneak out during the night and raid the cupboard without getting caught so I stocked up on meals. The things I bought hot are even still hot and the milk is still cold. There's only a month to go before I leave for school and hopefully I can work out a way that I don't ever have to come back here without arousing the suspicion of my enemies.**_

_**The owl Hagrid bought me seems to understand me like the snake did. The book I got about post owls said that they're normally really good at understanding addresses and instructions but sometimes they will understand more than that and develop an emotional bond called a familiar bond. Maybe the boa constrictor at the zoo was someone's familiar. Though I don't know how a witch or wizard's familiar would end up in a nonmagical zoo. But one other thing that I didn't tell you about the snake last time, is that after the snake got out of the enclosure he thanked me before slithering off. And I understood him too, it sounded like he was speaking English but nobody else seemed to notice. I don't know what that means. The book didn't say anything about Hedwig learning to talk to me.**_

_**Don't worry, I promise that I will find a way that we can keep writing somehow. Your friendship is far too important to me to lose. Please believe me.**_

_**Your Friend Always **_

_**Harry**_.

Other than writing to Spencer, preparing to say goodbye to his friends at the restaurant, practicing his occlumency and studying his new text books Harry had given a lot of thought to how he could keep using his powers without becoming dependent on his wand. He decided that the best way was possibly to make a fake wand so he could at least try to learn the spells without his real one. If it didn't work then he would keep trying to use magic without his wand outside of classes. So, he found a stick that was a similar size and colour and concentrated on using his power trying to make it look the same as his wand. It took a long time, and a lot of effort. He'd never tried to use his power to turn one thing into another like that. But that's what the subject transfiguration was according to his text book. It discouraged him a bit and made him doubt the possibility of his plan working. If he couldn't turn a stick into a similar looking stick without his wand, what hope did he have of turning a matchstick into a needle or a beetle into a button. He reminded himself how hard it had been to learn to unlock locks and how it was now so simple he barely needed to think about it once he was away from the dampening field around his house.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	54. Chapter 54

**Chapter 54**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_Thursday 8/22/91_

_Dear Harry_

_I'm sorry I didn't have faith in our friendship. You're still my best friend in spite of meeting Ethan and my friends from my classes, and of course I want you to keep writing if you can. I should have trusted that you'd want to keep in touch too just like you trusted me._

_Your new world sounds so different, it's as if they are deliberately trying not to do anything the way the rest of the world does them or a more potentially sinister reason occurred to me. I think they might be deliberately making it more difficult for people to move from one world to the other, both for students born to families without magic to assimilate and/or for people who grew up in the magical world to leave. Of course, it makes more sense that only one of these reasons is deliberate and the other one just an unforeseen side effect of the first. We need more information to come up with a sound hypothesis. Perhaps the prejudice you mentioned is the cause but it sounds like they turned their back on the rest of the world centuries ago and have stagnated while the rest of the world progresses. But that by itself doesn't make sense either if there are wizards and witches born to parents without magic then they would bring new knowledge and technology when they enter the wizarding world, but as you said there is prejudice against witches and wizards with a nonmagical upbringing and families so maybe they've just refused to make any changes to their world suggested by them. _

_I know you are worried about the workload but I do think that it is important that you keep up with normal schooling in case the day comes when you don't want to stay in the magical world. If you don't finish high school in the muggle world then you'll find it difficult to get a decent job and make a life for yourself. In other words, you'd be trapped in the magical world just to be able to make a living. I'll help you as much as I can. In fact, I'll look into correspondence courses from here and once we find a way to write I can send them to you._

_If I'm right about the wizarding world trying to make it harder for people from the nonmagical world to fit in, then your magical guardian was deliberately trying to make life harder for you by having you raised outside of the magical enclaves. Even if the Dursleys had turned out to be a good and loving family for you he as part of the magical world should have thought it better for you to be raised in that world, not raised to be an outsider in it by the time you started school at eleven. Add in the fact that the past eleven years you have been abused and neglected and if it wasn't for your own efforts in sourcing food first from dumpsters and then by befriending the restaurant owners then you'd also be half starved, smaller and weaker than your classmates. In short, those circumstances are highly likely to have made you submissive, overly eager to please and a target for manipulation and bullying. I'm worried that they knew how the Dursleys would treat you and that's what they planned when they gave you to them._

_I can't blame you for wanting to take the risk in going to Hogwarts. I would make the same choice if it was me and I'm looking forward to hearing about all the things you will learn in that world, but please be careful. Not everyone there can be trusted and it's going to be truly hard to tell the difference between enemies and other people who are being used by you enemies and those that can really be trusted. If the headmaster is capable of changing people's memories, then those who have proved they can be trusted could still be coerced or fooled into acting against your best interests without being aware of it. I wish you could find a magical school in California to come to where I can visit you and know you're safe and well._

_What you told me about the incident in the zoo has to be something to do with you being a wizard. A snake couldn't speak English even if you could teach one to understand it. They just don't have the mouth structure for human speech. It must be something to do with magic, though I'm not sure what. I don't think it could be that common though, otherwise wizards would be encouraged to have snakes as pets instead of cats and toads. You've never said that you can't understand Mrs Figg's cats or any other animal, but I think you would've mentioned it if you could. _

_I've read your book and have been practicing my occlumency. Of course, I have no way of knowing whether it is protecting my memories but sorting through them has taken the sting out of some of the worst memories and allowed me to see them from a better perspective and I haven't had a single nightmare since I started. It's also increased my reading speed as well which was very unexpected. So the effort has helped me, thank you Harry for thinking of protecting me like this and trusting that I could do it even without magic._

_The summer semester here has been interesting and I'm glad I stayed for it though I do miss spending more time with Mom and I do feel a bit like I need a break from studying before the first semester of the year starts, I understand why they don't recommend it to most students. There's a week between summer semester and the start of classes which I'm spending at home with Mom and I've resolved to attempt to spend at least three days without reading anything at all. My address for during term time hasn't changed, Ethan and I have the same room again and I'll admit I'm looking forward to him coming back. I didn't enjoy living here on my own over the summer as much as I thought I would though the specialist summer classes were enjoyable and well worth staying for._

_I hope to hear from you soon with details of how to stay in contact. _

_Your Friend Always_

_Spencer_.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	55. Chapter 55

**Chapter 55**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Saturday 31/8/91**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**I leave for school tomorrow and I'm sending your birthday present early because I still haven't worked out how to send or receive mail at Hogwarts, let alone packages. I'll send it tomorrow because I wanted to make sure you get this first and don't open your present in front of anyone. It's books, of course, what else would I buy you? One is a History of my new school and one of the history of the magical world. It isn't my history of magic textbook but something Mr Blott recommended for students new to the magical world. My history of magic textbook was nowhere near as interesting as either of these. I hope you don't mind too much that I read them before sending them to you. You'll need to keep them somewhere nobody will find them. I was going to send them to your address in Vegas so you could keep them in the hideout but I was afraid your mum might open them and they'd upset her and make her think she was having an episode if she did because the pictures in the books move like the ones in the newspaper. **_

_**This last month hasn't been bad. The Dursleys have been mostly ignoring me and locking me in my new room. Dudley is frightened, Hagrid lost his temper with him and gave him a tail which he has to go to hospital to get removed. I told you about that. Hagrid promised me that he'd send someone to fix it or to take them to the magical hospital to get it fixed. I don't know whether he lied to me or just forgot or if he tried to and the Dursleys refused to let someone try to fix it or to go to the hospital where they might be seen as being freaks themselves. I would have thought they'd put up with using magic to have it removed immediately, as it is they had to wait nearly a month and then go to a surgeon and show him that Dudley isn't perfectly normal to get it cut off and they had to have the surgery in a private hospital to get it done before he started school so Vernon is fuming about the cost. I thought it was funny for a moment and it might have been if it wore off, but it really isn't. Dudley will have the scar from the tail being removed for the rest of his life. I offered to write to my school and ask if they can come and reverse the spell but Vernon and Petunia don't want any more magic used on him. The problem is that being frightened makes Dudley even more mean and violent than normal, and he's pretty much trapped in the house because Petunia doesn't want to risk his friends seeing the tail, luckily though he is mostly avoiding me as much as he can and I'm helping by staying in my room even when I'm not locked in unless I'm asked to do something. The Dursleys don't want me going to Hogwarts but they also don't want to keep me here, they're worried that the wizards would send someone to get me again.**_

_**It's okay, I didn't calculate on the Dursleys not feeding me at all so I'll be a bit hungry if I run out of food if they don't let me out for meals, but I suspect that if I wrote to Tom at the Leaky Cauldron and sent some wizards money he would send me some more meals. At least I've had the chance to read all my school introductory books and start on my textbooks for the year. Most of them are fascinating but as I said the language is a bit off, maybe old fashioned or something, so they weren't easy to read at first but I'm getting used to it. I'm sure you'll get used to it even quicker than me though you probably already are from the stuff your Mum used to teach. I also read through the second hand science and math books I would have used this year if I went to Stonewall High. They all seem so simple, I guess Little Whinging Primary did a better job of teaching us than I thought.**_

_**Hope your visit home went well, and that you have a fabulous birthday if I can't write to you again before then. I hope I can. That someone at school will be able to tell me how to send international mail.**_

_**Your Friend Always**_

_**Harry**_.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	56. Chapter 56

**Chapter 56**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Harry sat in the window of his dorm room looking out at the moonlit castle. It had been a long day but he couldn't sleep. It was partly that he was surrounded by the other boys who he didn't know yet. Bad things happened when he fell asleep in front of Dudley or Vernon or at school. The only person he'd ever felt safe sleeping in front of was Spencer.

Dean looked up and saw Harry sitting in the window and got up to join him. "Can't sleep either?" he asked.

"No it still doesn't feel real, I'm afraid if I close my eyes I'll wake up back in Surrey at my relatives house," Harry said.

"You didn't write to your family?" Dean observed. The others had all jotted at least a few lines, even Ron though his letter had only been notification he was in Gryffindor and a request for his parents to send something he'd forgotten.

Harry sighed. "The only person I want to write to lives in California and everyone I've asked said that it's too far for an owl. But nobody could give me any other ways to get a letter to him from here," he said sadly.

"Do they know about the muggle world? If they have a muggle mailing address, I could ask Mum to forward letters for you, if you put it in a proper envelope and give her the money for stamps," Dean offered.

Harry smiled, "That would be fantastic," he said. "I can put stamps on the envelope, I stocked up in the hope I could find a way to get a letter into the muggle post. Do you think that your Mum would mind if I give Spencer your address to write back to? Maybe your mom could send his letters on to me here when she writes to you? I could send Hedwig each week to take your letter to your parents and check for letters."

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind. But what about your family, surely they'd forward letters for you?" Dean replied.

"No, we don't get along. They're afraid of magic, they'd either ignore it and refuse to take the letter or freak out if I sent them an owl. I'd worry that they'd try to hurt her," Harry said shaking his head.

"My Mum is the opposite. She was so excited about everything to do with magic. I think she actually read all my textbooks before I even got through the first one. It was a real struggle for them to send me here, not just the fees though they're pretty steep but she'd never considered sending me to boarding school and didn't want me to leave. She cried every time she saw me yesterday and today. Dad had to bring me to the station on his own because she was afraid of making a scene and changing her mind about letting me go," Dean said.

"That must have been nice, my aunt and uncle dropped me at Kings Cross on their way to do something with Dudley. They dumped me at the curb and drove off laughing their heads off because I didn't know how to get onto the platform and they didn't think it existed," Harry said.

"Didn't McGonagall tell you when she came to visit and took you shopping?" Dean asked.

"No Hagrid did my visit and I think I was the first student he visited he didn't seem to know what he needed to tell me and was quite anxious about something the whole time, he must have forgotten that the platform is hidden and I wouldn't be able to ask the station staff," Harry replied

"So your family freaked out when you got your letter, or did your accidental magic frighten them before that?" Dean asked.

"Both, they freaked out every time I did magic around them, and then again hugely when I got the letter and tried to stop me from coming. It was so stupid really, they already knew about what magic was, even if they never told me. My Mom was a witch her sister grew up with her. I honestly don't know why they took me in since they hated magic so much, they had to have known that I'd be a wizard. What about your family?" Harry said, voicing what he'd been thinking since Hagrid had taken him to the Alley.

"So, you didn't already know Ron? The way he was talking you were best mates," Dean said surprised.

"No, I met him on the train this morning. We got along fairly well, I guess. His Mother helped me get onto the platform and he explained a lot of things about wizarding candy and quidditch and the houses and he stood up for me when Draco Malfoy came to tell me who I should and shouldn't be friends with. What about you and Seamus?"

"We met on the train this morning too, his Dad's a muggle and they live mostly in the muggle world so we had stuff in common and he explained some things to me too," Dean replied yawning. "I'm going to try to get some sleep. Night Harry."

"Night Dean," Harry replied, but instead of going to sleep he got out his pen and paper and started writing to Spencer, not wanting to leave him unknowing about when and how they'd manage to write to each other.

_** Sunday 1/9/91**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**One of my new dorm mates lives in the muggle world and in return for being able to send his own letters to his family with Hedwig once each week, he is going to ask his mum to put your letters into the nonmagical post and then if you write back to me there, she'll give your replies to Hedwig when she next comes with his letter. The address for the outer envelope is:**_

_**Mrs F Thomas**_

_**37 Bedford Road, **_

_**ILFORD SOUTH **_

_**RM6 4NA**_

_**GREAT BRITAIN**_

_**And on the inner envelope **_

_**HARRY POTTER**_

_**Hogwarts **_

_**As you can see owl post doesn't require such specific addresses. Especially as Dean will be sending my owl to his mum each week with his letter to her. Just as well since I still have no idea where in Scotland we are. I didn't even get a chance to look if the station we got off the train at had a name. So, each letter we write will be sent by magical and muggle post, I don't know how long it will take in transit, especially as Mrs Thomas doesn't own her own owl and will have to wait for Dean to owl her before she can send your letter on to me but it's the best plan I can come up with. Hopefully it will work out.**_

_**I still don't much like the word muggle but it draws too much attention not to use it here, everyone keeps correcting me as if I've just forgotten the word.**_

_**I have four dorm mates, Dean Thomas of course, who's mum and step-dad are both not magical, he has two little half-sisters but he says neither have any signs of magic. His biological dad walked out on them when he was a baby and his mother and grandparents won't tell him anything about him, so maybe he was a wizard. He doesn't know that side of his family at all. Dean's a mad West Ham football fan and likes to draw, which he's really good at. Seamus Finnegan who unsurprisingly is as Irish as his name, his dad is a muggle and his mum has magic and didn't tell his dad until after they were married. Seamus laughed when he told us that and said it was a bit of a shock to his Da but I think he and his mum are damn bloody lucky that his dad didn't react like Vernon would've. Then there's Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom who are both purebloods and neither of them have ever set foot in the non-magical world. Ron kept poking Dean's football posters, pictures that don't move are as surprising to him as the pictures in the newspaper I sent you was to us. They all seem okay, though Neville is really shy and nervous about everything as if he's expecting to be bullied by the rest of us and his manners are very formal as if he's been surrounded only by adults most of his life. He's an only child and he hasn't mentioned his parents at all only his Gran and Uncle. I met Ron and his mum on the platform this morning and Ron sat with me on the train and explained a heap of things, Ron's family are relatively poor and he has five older brothers and a little sister all magical. He seems to have a bit of a chip on his shoulder about having so little money and so many siblings but I think he's incredible lucky. His second hand clothes are a lot better than the Dursley's gave me, of course it was amazing to have a brand new uniform for school and Ron's is handed down or second hand and being a bit faded you can tell it isn't new, so I do understand where he's coming from. Dean says his family don't have much money either and that paying the fees for Hogwarts will be a struggle but he didn't have anyone to hand down a uniform and I didn't see a second hand shop in Diagon Alley so he had to have new clothes.**_

_**I know four people sounds like a lot to share a room with but the room is huge and nearly round with a bit cut off for the bathroom. We each have a four poster bed with curtains about the size of a double bed and our own bedside table and wardrobe with space for our trunks at the foot of the bed. Stone walls and a large wood stove where the middle of the circle would be.**_

_**Hogwarts divides its students into four houses, it uses a singing and talking hat to read your mind and decide which house you belong in. Yes, I'm aware how ridiculous it sounds but it reads your thoughts and decides where you fit best. I'm in Gryffindor, home of the brave but I was also nearly in Slytherin home of the cunning and ambitious because the hat says I have a thirst to prove myself. I met some of the Slytherins on the train to school and didn't like them and Hagrid told me that all of the people who supported the wizard who killed my parents came from Slytherin so I begged the talking hat not to put me there. That sentence sounds totally insane doesn't it, but it is true. Just as true as the fact that I'm going to spend the next nine months wearing a uniform that looks like a bloody dress. You would've been in Ravenclaw, home of the smart and studious, though you'd also fit in the fourth house which is Hufflepuff which values loyalty and hard work. I know you would tell me that I shouldn't trust what Hagrid said. He might just be prejudiced or the person who sent him might have wanted me to think like that. But you didn't meet these three students. One of them acts like a total spoilt brat, as bad as Dudley in his own way, not fat but clearly from a very wealthy family and he seemed to look down on all of us, especially Ron and the muggleborn Hermione. The other two I think might have been his body guards. He's going to need them if he shoots his mouth off to everyone like he did to us.**_

_**The food here is great, really well cooked roast meats and potatoes and a heap of different crisp vegetables and gravy and then four different desserts and I can eat as much as I like, a bit like a buffet but it all appears on the tables. We get three meals a day and there's a big basket of fruit in our common room we can help ourselves to at any time. Ron's table manners are as bad as Dudley's so I try not to look at him while we were eating, I don't know why though all three of his brothers at school seem to have reasonable manners.**_

_**We spent seven hours on the train but it seemed to go a lot faster than the muggle trains I caught with Hagrid, so I don't know how far north we are. It was an old steam train and the carriages were divided into little compartments, I think the train was only half full but Ron asked to sit with me and told me there was nowhere else to sit, then once I introduced himself he asked to see my scar. The scar I got the night my parents died. I heard his mum telling the twins that they were forbidden from asking me if I remembered that night. And then a girl came along looking for someone's missing toad and excitedly told me she's read all about it. And another kid came in and acted like because I was famous I shouldn't be friends with Ron or Hermione, I should be friends with him even though he wasn't nice to me at all when we met in the robe shop and he didn't know my name. I seem to be more famous in the wizarding world than Hagrid said I was. It's going to really suck, everyone wanting to talk about my parent's deaths like that. **_

_**Then after the train ride we got to the station and the older kids all went off in carriages while we walked down to the lake and went across it in little boats. I don't know why except that we then had to wait until everyone else was sitting down before going in to the dining hall to be sorted by the hat. There were four big long tables and everyone sits with their house as well as shares a dormitory and classes with them. I don't know why we are so divided up there isn't really enough of us to have four classes, there are forty first years, too much for one class but barely enough for two.**_

_**Hogwarts castle is amazing, it's huge, I'm sure it's far bigger than a school this size needs to be even with everyone boarding. Everything here is magical, they halls are lit by burning torches on the wall and the dining hall was lit by floating candles. You can see the sky on the dining hall ceiling just as if there was no roof but there must be floors above it, someone told me it was enchanted to do that. The portraits on the wall not only move they can have a conversation with you and some of the painted people move from one portrait canvas to another to talk to each other. The staircases move, not like an escalator which would make sense since the castle must be about more than a dozen levels in places and that's not counting anything below the ground, but actually swing about and connect to a different hallway without warning and the way to our common room is through a portrait you have to tell a password to. They call her The Fat Lady, they didn't tell us her name. Her portrait is hundreds of years old from the look at it so maybe nobody remembers but surely she remembers and could tell us. I'm glad we didn't have to carry our own bags up the common room is on the seventh floor and the step over through the portrait is higher than my knees. Then there is another flight of stairs up to the first year dorms (seven to the seventh years' dorm, not that I'm allowed up there). Our dorm room is round with a coal heater in the middle but there's nowhere to store coal. Hopefully it's magical because I don't fancy having to clean up after it. I know from the state of the room after they finished getting ready for bed that none of my dorm mates are used to tidying up after themselves let alone doing any real cleaning.**_

_**Anyhow I've told you all about my new school and stuff, I hope everything is good with you too.**_

_**Your Friend Always**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	57. Chapter 57

**Chapter 57**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Harry was in the middle of transfiguration cursing himself for his stupidity and wondering how he was going to manage exchanging his fake wand for his real one without anyone noticing when he realised that the lesson was almost over and he wouldn't need to. Hermione was the only one so far who had succeeded in even partially turning the match they'd been given into a needle and even it looked more like a silver match, none of the others had managed anything except for Seamus who had somehow set his match on fire. He looked critically at his match and thought it might be slightly more cylindrical than it had been but it was still clearly wooden with no sign of a point on the end. He sighed as he packed up his books. It seemed that wands really might be necessary to succeed in transfiguration. They'd taken a lot of notes on stupid things like holding your wand correctly and drawing the correct shapes with it to form the spell and then having to state what you wanted to do in Latin not in English.

He was heartened by the fact the next wanded class was charms the next day and they would be attempting the lumos charm to make light. It had taken Harry quite some time over the summer to make the light appear at the end of the fake wand instead of like a bubble from the palm of his hand but he had already mastered it so leaving his real wand in his trunk he confidently sat down ready for the lesson. He watched the others try before he attempted it and seeing how they struggled attempted to make the weakest light that he could. It was still brighter than anyone else's and Harry frowned when he noticed Hermione's jealous glare. He frowned again the next day in Defence against the Dark Arts when he realised she was less jealous of being beaten to master the impedimentia jinx by one of the Ravenclaws. Was she frowning because she thought he was too dumb to do better than she did. On the other hand he was glad to see that even with his fake wand he was one of the first three or four to master the jinx and it was getting easier to make spells come out the end of it than it had been.

_Tuesday 9/10/91_

_Dear Harry,_

_I'm so glad that your friend's Mom agreed to forward letters for us. I did include a thankyou note to her but you should too if you haven't already, and please thank Dean for me as well. If you already thanked her please don't take offence at me reminding you. I'm just so grateful for a way to keep in touch. Thank you for my birthday present the books look so interesting I can't wait to be able to find time alone to read them._

_Your school sounds more like a fantasy movie than a real place. Even if they disdain the nonmagical world and don't require teaching accreditation for their professors I would expect them to have hired the best possible teachers they could. And surely no matter what world you live in literacy is important, and if a lot of your classmates have been home-schooled up until now it's even more important that they should teach it. If the majority of your class are home-schooled, I would expect a huge variation in literacy levels, mathematical skills and independent thinking. Not every parent is suited to home-school their children. I'm surprised your classes don't start off with an exam to see where everyone is at and whether they need remedial classes to catch up with the rest._

_The sorting hat sounds kind of creepy, reading your mind like that. I don't think that I would like it. and I must tell you that I was surprised that it put you in Gryffindor. I'm glad you didn't go into Slytherin since you didn't want to but I would have said that you were a better fit for Ravenclaw or even Hufflepuff than Slytherin or Gryffindor. You're much more interested in learning new things than in proving how brave and rash you can be, and your career interests working for a restaurant or a garden designer prove that you don't mind hard work. Remember how you told me that you didn't think that you could be a superhero because you were more interested in making sure you survived unhurt that you wouldn't risk that to help other people. Unless you've changed a lot since then and there's nothing in your letters that makes me think that you have, then why would the hat put you in Gryffindor? Were you surprised by this too?_

_You're right that I'm worried about your education. I tried to collect the correspondence materials for you but there's too many textbooks required for me to send it to you even if they would give it to me. I don't think it would be good for your owl to try to carry them, even one at a time. I guess you are going to have to go to summer school if you want to keep up with your nonmagical education. I'm glad that you at least read through the books you ought to have been learning this year. And yes Harry I am going to think that you ought to learn math, science, English, history, geography, health, physical education, even art and drama and music. I'm not saying you shouldn't have gone to Hogwarts but it should be teaching you all these things as well as magic. I'm not going to lecture you about it but I'm not going to change my mind about that either._

_And Vampires and Ghosts are real? You haven't helped me try to get over my fear of the dark with that news. What else is real, werewolves, dragons, unicorns, elves, mermaids?"_

_I read through the beginner text books you sent me. It helped me understand what you are talking about with your different subjects and things. But one thing that I don't understand is why they're only teaching you to do spells with your wand with Latin incantations and specific wand movements when I know you could do a lot of things without all that before you even learned what magic was. As an experiment, have you tried learning a spell without your wand first? Would you get more of the spells without your wand that way? Is it easier to do spells with your wand? Or are wands a way to do spells without getting so tired and hungry afterwards, though you told me that wasn't as bad once you got used to doing small spells in your cupboard. _

_It still makes me mad to even write that. I'm glad they moved you upstairs but you should have had that room the whole time. Have you worked out who to ask to help you find a new place to live? You're right that what Hagrid did to Dudley wasn't funny, it was one of the worst episodes of bullying there could be using a power the other person didn't have to permanently deform them and make them into the laughing stock of everyone who sees him. Worse than that it was an adult bullying a child as well as a wizard picking on a group of people he sees as being inferior because they didn't have magic. Not to mention that Hagrid didn't even stop to think about what that would mean for you being forced to spend the next month with those people who had obviously already been afraid of magic and disliked you. I'm intensely grateful that Vernon didn't try to beat you to death again for what happened. Or at least I hope he didn't. if you were healed and your memories removed before you could write to me do we really know for sure he didn't try to kill you?_

_Your Friend Always_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	58. Chapter 58

**Chapter 58**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Wednesday 25/9/91**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**I was surprised that the hat was even considering Gryffindor for me, but then again, I chose to come here knowing that it might be dangerous that the headmaster might very well want me abused and beaten and weak for some nefarious reason, so I guess that could be construed as a ridiculous amount of bravery and daring, or stupidity which I'm not totally convinced isn't the same thing. I was a bit surprised by some of my other classmates sortings as well. There's a girl in Gryffindor, the one on the train who was proud to tell me she'd read all about me, that spends all her time studying and thinks books are so wonderful that they can never be wrong, and my friend Neville seems to be afraid of just about everything, he thought that he'd be in Hufflepuff. Maybe it's partly influenced by families because my parents and Neville's parents were both in Gryffindor. Part of me thinks maybe I'm just not smart enough to be in Ravenclaw. But in the end I think that the hat let me choose, it said I'd be great in Slytherin but could also fit in Ravenclaw and Gryffindor I decided that I wanted to be in Gryffindor, not because I think it's the best fit for me but because my parents were both in Gryffindor and it was clear that that was where everyone expected me to go, and appearing to be doing what's expected is the best way to fly under the radar, so maybe the hat just makes conversation and sorts students where they want to go. Though it was right when it said I could be great in Slytherin, choosing which house I wanted to be in to manage other people's perception of me is cunning and I am ambitious to learn everything I can to succeed in this world and to beat whoever is trying to keep me ignorant. Anyway being in Gryffindor seems to have worked I see Dumbledore at meals but I haven't noticed him watching me and he hasn't tried to speak to me.**_

_**Besides if I hadn't gone into Gryffindor I wouldn't have met Dean who offered to ask his mum to help with our letters, and I don't know if anyone else would've offered without telling someone about it, so it's definitely worth it even if Gryffindors are a lot more rowdy than I would like. I think that I'd like the relative calm of the Ravenclaw dormitory better but I can't say I like the actual Ravenclaw boys in my year level that much. Not that I know them well.**_

_**My professors are a bit of a mixed bag. There's Flitwick who I think might be part goblin or some other race I haven't heard of yet, he's an energetic cheerful little man smaller than all of the students in my class. Probably about the same size I was when we met or maybe a bit shorter. He teaches charms and stands on a pile of huge books to see over his desk. Professor McGonagall is tall and thin and Scottish, very strict and efficient and looks about seventy years old, she teaches transfiguration and is the Gryffindor head of house. Sprout teaches herbology and is somehow motherly and practical and looks middleaged and I don't want to say fat but she is big. Binns is a ghost who has been teaching history for a couple of hundred years and tries to bore us all into a stupor. He usually succeeds. You'd think magical history would be interesting and I enjoyed the books I read about it over the summer, even the textbook which was the worst of the lot of them, but the way Binns teaches just isn't a bit interesting or even tolerable. The only way to stay awake is to concentrate on not listening to him and get on with reading something else. Snape teaches potions, the subject I was looking forward to the most. It's a huge disappointment. He should never have been a teacher, he hates students, he doesn't even try to teach or explain anything and he is condescending, sarcastic, abusive and unfair. If we ask a question in class it just invites more insults. He's the youngest of the professors and looks about in his mid-thirties. There are rumours that he's a vampire so he could be a lot older but I think that's only other students being nasty about him because of the way he's treated them, his classroom is down in the dungeons and he's very pale but I have seen him in the sunlight. It's now my least favourite class. Last but not least DADA, Defence Against the Dark Arts, which should be an exciting class but is another disappointment, it's taught by professor Quirrel the professor with the stutter that seemed to be afraid of his own shadow when I met him in Diagon Alley he still seems to be afraid of just about everything, he's the last person who should be teaching us to defend ourselves. I think he has PTSD. They say he had a run in with a vampire last year in Europe somewhere but he isn't afraid of Professor Snape. I have to make sure I've done my prep for that class because I can barely understand his stammering and stuttering half the time.**_

_**I'm sure I've missed somebody, oh yeah. Astronomy but I can't tell you much about the teacher, I was too busy trying to stay awake because the class is taught at midnight after a full day of other lessons. We have the morning off afterwards though thank heavens.**_

_**The most exciting thing we've learned so far is flying. On a broom, which I know sounds so cliche but it's awesome. They're brooms specifically enchanted to fly of course nor any old kitchen broom but it was the best! Like a roller coaster without being confined to the rails. There's a sport played on brooms and I made the team, it's a bit complicated and it didn't make much sense to me when Ron tried to explain it and I haven't seen a game yet so I'll send you a book about it when I can get one. It sounds really dangerous but the captain said not to worry because the healers here can fix broken bones in like a minute or two.**_

_**Now that I'm learning to use magic deliberately every day, I haven't had any more episodes where it feels like I need to be careful not to lose control of it, which I was worried that I would being out of the dampening field that's around the Dursleys house. They say here that controlled wandless magic is very rare, I wonder if it because they only teach us to use magic with our wands until they become dependent on it. I am still using the wandless lights at night that I used to make in my cupboard, and before I master each spell with my wand, I attempt it without one, sometimes I succeed and sometimes not. I managed to make a fake wand before I came to Hogwarts. It looks like my real one but it feels like a plain stick so I can practice doing the spells without a wand without anyone noticing. Charms are easy so far but Transfiguration is incredibly difficult. It's easy with my wand though.**_

_**I haven't tried asking anyone for somewhere else to stay yet. I don't know who I could ask. I probably should talk to my head of house about it, but Professor McGonagall is so strict and stern and she always sits next to Dumbledore at meals. I'm not sure whether that's because she was assigned that seat, it comes with her role of Deputy Headmistress or if they're friends. I feel I need to know that before I can confide in her.**_

_**How is your school and your house? You do call it a house not a dorm, right? And your classes? You haven't told me anything about your professors this year. Is that because they're all the same ones or have I been a bad friend and too excited about Hogwarts, forgetting to ask about your things?**_

_**Your friend always **_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	59. Chapter 59

**Chapter 59**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_Friday 10/11/91_

_Dear Harry_

_You weren't a bad friend. I'm glad that you were so excited to be going to boarding school and leaning so many new things and you knew I would want to know all about it. I knew you'd be interested in what I was doing but I was so keen to learn about your new world and school and everything that what I had to say about my classes seemed boring in comparison. _

_One other thing Harry, please don't run yourself down, you're definitely smart enough to have been sorted into the house of the studious. You have never been allowed to do well in school but you're actually reading books well above the norm for your age level, and your understanding of the things I write in my letters and some of the things you write shows a level of emotional and intellectual maturity that just doesn't happen in people of less than average intelligence. I would say you're easily capable of being close to the top of your class if you try. If anyone was rejected due to not being smart enough for Ravenclaw it would have been your book-loving friend Hermione. If she believes everything she reads, she hasn't developed the analytical mind and critical thinking necessary for true intelligence, though she sounds like she has a fairly good reading level and memory._

_My professors aren't as interesting as yours. You could say that they are more professional or more standoffish. They come in lecture and leave we don't really get to know their personalities at all except through their teaching styles. Our classes are a great deal larger than yours too. My English class, which is a requirement or I wouldn't bother taking it, is six hundred students. I must admit that that class is a bit of a disappointment. I didn't choose it because I was interested in it, it was just the one that fitted into my timetable with my other subjects the best, but I still thought it would be more interesting than it is. It's not a literature class, but rather on the development of language and how it changes with time. I didn't want to choose a literature class, that would remind me too much of Mom. The textbooks, and all the extra reading they suggested was interesting but the lectures themselves don't include anything that's not in the books and even the lecturer seems bored by the material. The assignment should be interesting, it's about comparing how languages have changed differently over time in different places. For example, we both speak English but often words don't mean the same thing to each of us but America was settled by the British so our language must have been the same back then. Likewise, Australia and New Zealand were settled mostly by the British though much later and their language hasn't changed so much, though the native languages have had a dramatically different effect on their accents. _

_My Chemistry Lecturer is my favourite, he taught the Chemistry class I did last year too. This year I have prac with him as well which is great. He's one of those teachers who don't mind if you come into the lab to work on things as long as he's there to keep everything safe._

_My Math professor is much more interesting than last year's professor, every time she teaches us something, she likes to include an example of how the math is used in the real world, sometimes in industry or building, architecture and engineering, or how things have gone wrong because the math wasn't used correctly when it should have been. Some of the connections are quite obscure and amusing._

_Physics is amazing, we're studying stuff I hadn't read about before, and the lecturer is a leader in this field of research and very passionate about it. I won't frustrate you by telling you about it now, while you're at a school that wouldn't allow you to look it up and understand it. I'm not saying you wouldn't understand it, you have a fairly good knowledge of the subject from what you've already read but it would frustrate me no end if someone wrote to me about a fascinating new topic in a subject I enjoy that I couldn't read up more on._

_I like my biochemistry class too, the prac so far have been interesting though I don't really like the prac tutor. The lectures aren't bad either, though there seems to be quite a few students who aren't really interested and are doing it as a filler class. The lecturer assumes we have done the assigned reading and I must say I would have difficulty understanding the finer nuances of his lectures if I hadn't, and I see many of the students missing the point and the lecturer is quite short with anyone who asks a question that has been covered by the readings. I think that this lecturer will also base quite a few of his exam questions on these points._

_Ethan and I are getting on well, he was almost as glad to be back sharing a room as I was to have him back. He said he had a good summer with his family but it was awkward to go back to being treated like a kid again after being used to being on his own and making his own decisions at college. We only have mathematics together this semester, but he did the physics class I'm doing now last year and I did the chemistry class he's now doing last year as well so we still study together quite often._

_See this letter's been nearly all about me, and I hope you've been interested in it all. That's what friends do._

_Yes we call where we live a house, though it is huge. There are various competitions between the houses and a lot of pranking and friendly rivalry. We spend the first week or two visiting the houses and being interviewed and then get to choose which house seems to fit our personality best. I think that I understand why they sort you into houses. In the houses here the older students tend to look out for their housemates if they see them out and about and would limit how much trouble they get into, I imagine your school wants to foster the same sense of responsibility in it's older students, to look out for the cubs of the house. Among other things it would cut down on the amount of time the professors have to spend babysitting and dealing with minor issues._

_I hope you still love school and are making more friends than just Ron. How are you getting on with your dorm mates? It can't be easy sharing a room with four other people and I imagine it will get worse as it becomes too cold to spend as much time outside. The room must be huge, given that they haven't given you bunk beds to fit you all in. How are you going keeping up with the work? Do you think that you could do a correspondence subject or two next year or are you struggling with what you've got already? I don't mean to nag you and it's okay if you don't want to keep up your nonmagical education, obviously everyone else at your school does okay without it._

_Your friend always,_

_Spencer _

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	60. Chapter 60

**Chapter 60**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Saturday 2/11/91**_

_**Dear Spencer,**_

_**Happy Birthday for last Monday. I hope you had a truly great day. I'm only sorry that I couldn't plan a party for you like I did the year we met. It remains the only birthday party I've ever been welcome at. They don't seem to celebrate birthdays much around here. I've heard some of the older students wish each other a happy birthday and close friends sometimes give gifts, but I mostly find out about birthdays from the number of gifts arriving by owl-mail at breakfast. I don't even know any of my friends' and classmates' birthdays yet and by the time I find out I'm sure to have missed a few.**_

_**To answer your questions that I didn't yet know the answers to last time I wrote, I've not seen any of these creatures other than the ghosts and goblins but yes all of those things you mentioned are supposed to be real, and a dozen or more other mythical creatures as well. That or someone's having the muggleborn and muggle-raised wizards on to make us look foolish! Not everyone here believes that people from nonmagical families should have the right to learn magic. Some people are quite nasty about it, even sometimes the professors.**_

_**Werewolves are definitely real though there was a story in 'The Daily Prophet' about an attack last full moon, not that I think that you'd take anything they've written as proof of anything, but the story was calling for the laws regulating werewolves to be tightened to keep us all safe. I'm not sure how limiting what jobs a werewolf in human form can do during the rest of the month has anything to do with keeping us safe from attack during the full moon. It doesn't make sense to me.**_

_**I'm glad you're enjoying most of your classes, they sound fantastic the way you describe them, and that you and Ethan are still good friends and things are going well for you in your college house.**_

_**I've made a new friend, it's someone I already told you about but we weren't friends before this, Hermione Granger she's one of the girls in Gryffindor in our year. She' She's a bit of a know it all. One of those kids who always has their arm up waving in the air, even after someone else has answered the question wanting to show off that she knows more than that. I think that she inadvertently helped me figure out one of the things that influence the sorting hat. Hermione didn't want to be in Ravenclaw, she wanted Gryffindor because she'd heard that Headmaster Dumbledore was a Gryffindor and that was the best house. I think that if she wasn't muggleborn then Slytherin would have been a better fit for her, she's the one with a thirst to prove herself much more than I do. But you're right about her not being able to think for herself she almost idolises all our professors, and her respect for rules and authority figures above common sense is ridiculous. She spends every spare minute studying or in the library reading, it's as if she hasn't realised that Hogwarts is not just a school it's also our home for the next nine months and we need to live not just learn. It's lucky that she's too fond of rules to ignore our recommended bedtime or she'd be studying all night every night until she collapsed. I tried to be nice to her earlier in the year but she didn't seem to want to hang out with us. She hasn't really made friends with anyone and Ron was really horrible to her today and nobody said anything to either of them before she ran off crying and missed dinner. I felt awfully guilty for not standing up and defending her.**_

_**Then in the middle of dinner Quirrell, the scaredy-cat DADA professor, comes in and said a troll had broken into the school. Dumbledore cancelled the rest of dinner, vanished the food and sent us all back to our dorms which was stupid at least at dinner we were all I one place, he could have checked who was missing and locked us all in safely instead of dividing us up and sending us out into the corridors without an escort. Especially since the Slytherin dorms are in the Dungeons and the Hufflepuffs are under ground level too and that's where Quirrell said the troll was.**_

_**I didn't go looking for the troll. I swear I didn't. Lavender and Parvati said that Hermione was holed up in the second-floor girls' bathroom crying all afternoon but they weren't willing to go get her. So, I dragged Ron along to apologise and warn her about the troll and bring her back to the common room. I wasn't trying to be a hero. It should've been perfectly safe. Quirrell said the troll was in the dungeons, at least five floors below the second floor and it was kind of on our way to the dorms. But it wasn't safe, we arrived just as the troll entered the girls' bathroom and we heard Hermione scream. None of our spells seemed to work on it so I jumped on it and my wand went up it's nose. I remember wishing desperately that I could stop it from attacking Hermione. It seemed to pause and Ron managed to levitate its club out of its hand and drop it on its head knocking it out, so we all got away pretty much unharmed. I apologised to Hermione for not stopping Ron and Ron apologised for what he'd said and we're friends now. Weird huh? I thought she'd avoid Ron more than ever but she doesn't.**_

_**I mentioned to her that a friend had suggested that I try to take correspondence classes or go to summer school to keep up with my nonmagical education. I hoped she'd be interested in studying with me and I thought she'd think it was a good idea because it would be nice to have someone to work with and she likes studying and has a burning desire to learn everything and anything but she thought it would be a waste of time. I wondered if her home life is as bad as ours or mine, since she was so determined that her life was now in the magical world but she's spoken of both her parents fondly and from what she's said they seem like nice people. Her clothes and things are all nearly new, good quality and well fitting, so she isn't neglected financially and her parents write to her weekly and she seems happy to receive the letters. Maybe she was bullied at school but she's been bullied here until now too so that wouldn't explain it. She's kind of bossy and always acts like she knows better than everyone else. She's one of those kids with her hand waving enthusiastically in the air every time the teacher asks a question, and she gets insulted if the teacher asks someone else to answer or anyone manages to cast a new spell before she does. Her dorm mates don't want to hang out with her, I thought maybe she didn't want to hang out with them because they aren't interested in studying but neither is Ron and she wants to hang out with him. Still Ron doesn't talk about fashion, makeup, boys and gossip and he isn't all giggly all the time.**_

_**Because I know that you'll ask, Hermione said it was a mountain troll but it smelled like a rotting swamp, it was about 12 foot tall and about the same shape and girth as a Volkswagen beetle stood on its rear end. It had grey magically resistant skin, not that any of us knew any good defensive spells anyway and it didn't understand English and it certainly didn't look as cheerful and benevolent or anywhere near as attractive as those ugly troll dolls in the normal world. And it had hardly any hair. I assume Hermione is right, she usually is about stuff like that and I have no desire to read up on it. I think they killed it, or I did. It was breathing after being knocked out but I saw them levitating it down to the dungeons. Rumour has it that Snape was going to render it for potions ingredients.**_

_**Your Friend Always**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	61. Chapter 61

**Chapter 61**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Spencer read the letter in a state of shock, and sat there almost shaking with emotion. He'd almost lost Harry. Harry had almost been seriously injured or even killed and there's nothing he could've done about it. He couldn't be there for him, or visit in the hospital and let him know someone actually cared what happens to him. He was so far away that if harry had been hurt he wouldn't even hear about it until he was well enough to write again, if he ever was. Hogwarts was dangerous and he'd known that, on some level. They'd known that it was highly likely that the Headmaster was an enemy and still he hadn't tried to dissuade Harry from going there. He should have encouraged him to find a way to run away. To use the money in his vault to get far enough away that whoever was determined to keep him at the Dursleys couldn't find him. He certainly should never have encouraged Harry to go to Hogwarts for a chance at learning magic. Harry could be killed and he wouldn't even know.

Spencer was surprised to feel that the idea of Harry dying was almost as painful as the idea that his mother might die during one of her episodes, something that had given him nightmares for years.

-o0o-

Spencer woke during the night gasping for breath and being shaken by Ethan. "What?" he asked shocked and still trembling in fright, looking around for the threat.

"You were crying in your sleep, yelling for Harry. Has something happened to your friend?" Ethan explained curiously.

"He's okay but he was very nearly seriously injured by something that happened at school? I got the letter about it this afternoon and I guess my mind's subconsciously worried what if he hadn't been okay. He doesn't have any grown ups he can count on, and I'm too far away to help him," Spencer said still crying a little.

"Is he being bullied? He didn't ring you for help?" Ethan asked.

"He couldn't, the school only allow phone calls to family," Spencer lied not wanting to try to explain a school totally disconnected from the nonmagical world when he couldn't tell him about magic.

"That's why he writes so often, but what about email. Surely he's not such a luddite as you?" Ethan asked teasingly.

"More than me. I doubt Harry's ever touched a computer except perhaps to dust his cousin's or uncle's," Spencer said frowning.

"You said he didn't have a grown up he could trust. What happened to his parents? And why would you think he can't trust his teachers?"

"Harry's parents were killed when he was a baby and his Aunt took him in unwillingly for the money they get from his trust fund. Harry doesn't trust teachers because the teachers at his elementary school ignored the signs of abuse all his life," Spencer said sighing.

"Is he being bullied at school?" Ethan asked.

"Not at this school, his cousin doesn't go there but he was at his old school and the teachers ignored that too," Spencer said.

"Then what happened?" Ethan asked.

"There was an accident and Harry accidentally put himself in much more danger than he realised trying to help a friend," Spencer replied sighing. "How am I supposed to convince him to value his own life when nobody else ever has before?"

"Tell him how you're feeling, how afraid you are when you hear about him taking risks. How much it will devastate you if he's hurt or killed," Ethan said thoughtfully. "Invite him here or home with you for the summer to let him know he's important to you. That he has a place other than back to his Aunt's to go to."

"Thanks Ethan," Spencer replied wishing that he could invite Harry home with him. He was going to have to spend the summer in Vegas and he would love it if Harry came, but Harry would have to camp out in the hideout which really wasn't an appropriate home for an eleven year old.

_Friday 11/15/91_

_Dear Harry_

_What on earth was a 12-foot-tall mountain troll doing wandering around your school attacking students?! Isn't there some sort of magic to keep monsters like that out of the school? And why were you and Ron the ones who had to collect Hermione? There's got to be twenty teachers and hundreds of students older than you with more training in magic. Surely as soon as you knew where she was you could have told someone instead of rushing headfirst into danger. Harry don't you know how much danger you put yourself in. _

_I know I shouldn't rant at you and that you didn't think you were putting yourself at risk but it gave me nightmares, that one day you're just going to stop replying to my letters and I'll never know if you just lost interest in answering my letters or something terrible has happened to you and you've been killed. Please try to stay out of trouble and try to trust your professors to look after you and the other students. I know it's hard for you to trust adults after your relatives' abuse and the way all your neighbours and the teachers in your old school ignored your problems and needs but these aren't the same teachers who deliberately ignored your mistreatment and injuries, please give them a chance to keep you safe._

_I've also been thinking about your new friend Hermione, though I hesitate to try to give you advice about her after lecturing you about the troll and taking risks. I don't want you to start thinking of me as a nagging older brother like Mycroft Holmes. But my first thought about Hermione was that perhaps she is acting like she knows everything because she feels so insecure. She wears her intelligence like armour. I used to be one of those kids who liked answering questions too, until it was beaten out of me. It seems your friend might be a bit oblivious to what's going on around her not to have learned that her behaviour incites the bullying. Not that I'm saying that she deserved it. Nobody does. But if her bullies were the same as mine and most of them are, her determination to prove that she's the smartest kid in in the grade would have made them exponentially more vicious. If she's still doing it at Hogwarts it means she hasn't learned from her experiences, and if the only people that were listening to her back then were teachers and her parents then she hasn't learned how to talk to her peers. It's going to be difficult to teach her how to be a friend, but you succeeded in befriending me, and I'm sure I was just as awkward and you seemed to have no difficulty in listening to me ramble on about things you didn't understand. You're right that it's odd that she doesn't want to continue her nonmagical education but maybe the school bullying was a lot worse than she's said and she doesn't want anything that reminds her of her previous school so maybe you should just drop the subject until she's willing to bring it up herself._

"_I'm so glad you're safe and I'm glad you're befriending Hermione. It sounds like she needs a friend who will stand up for her, and stand up to her too, if necessary. Just be yourself with her. If she and Ron don't like you the way you are then they don't deserve to be your friends. _

_I don't hear you talk about Dean much, is he your friend? His mother is doing us such a huge favour I would hate to hear that you don't like each other. And the other two boys in your dorm? What are they like now you know them a little better?_

_Your Friend Always_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	62. Chapter 62

**Chapter 62**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Monday 2/12/91**_

_**Dear Spencer **_

_**I'm sorry that I worried you, but I also have to admit that I liked it when I got your letter. It felt good to know that someone out there cares whether I live or die. For you, I will try to stay safe if I can. I also gave Dean an envelope, stamped and addressed to you, and asked him to write to you and tell you if something terrible does happen to me and I can't let you know. It isn't much but I hope that stops you from having nightmares about me. I also thought about what you said about Hermione and I will try to be her friend. But she isn't you Spence. She might be as lonely as you were but she's not anything like you. She seems to actively drive people away and I can't decide whether it's on purpose or out of wilful ignorance. Surely her parents or teachers or someone must have told her that you can't expect people to be nice to you if you treat them like you think they're stupid all the time.**_

_**I like listening to you talk or write about the things you are reading and learning. You always seem so eager to share the information out of sheer joy of learning and excitement about the information itself. And when I don't know something or I'm just learning about something you must have learned years ago you never make me feel stupid about it. You're still interested in my studies and my insights even if they're not on your level. Hermione doesn't ramble like you and I always get the impression that she's telling me things to prove how smart she is that she knows things I don't, or because she thinks I should know them. I think you might be right about her feeling insecure though, she seems driven to try and learn absolutely everything about every spell or potion we learn as if knowing all that extra stuff will make things okay. She doesn't seem to enjoy learning the way you and I do, it's as if she needs it. I'm trying to encourage her to tell me what she enjoys doing, to try to find something she thinks is fun that maybe we can share but she says she enjoys studying. Which would be fine if I totally believed her. I know she enjoys doing well in class, and the attention and points she gets from the Professors, but her constant studying seems more like an escape from interacting with people. She says she wants us to study with her but I don't know if she really does or not, her attitude seems almost designed to drive us away, I certainly don't enjoy studying with her and get more done on my own too. Are you telling me she doesn't realise how her own behaviour influences the people around her?**_

_**I'm trying Spencer, I really am trying to be her friend, but I don't understand her and I spend half my time trying to keep the peace between her and Ron. They're like oil and water and sometimes I think Ron enjoys winding her up and watching her explode. I don't get much done studying with him either, he's always leaving things til the very last minute and then asking Hermione and I for help. The rest of the time he's trying to distract me from doing my work, to play chess or gobstones or explore the castle or something.**_

_**Snape is limping and when I went to get back the library book he confiscated and I saw he'd been bitten in the leg. I think he was trying to get past the cerebus guarding the trapdoor on the third floor and got bitten. He had to be doing something he shouldn't have been or he would have gone to Madam Pomfrey and be fixed right up. I'd feel sorry for him except that it's making him more bad tempered and cruel than ever. I think he might have been bitten by the Cerebus.**_

_**I just realised I forgot to tell you about that, and I want to tell you even though it will probably make you angry with me and worried again. Please don't be too angry, I was stupid and weak not standing up for myself but I've learned my lesson. I wont do it again. **_

_**Malfoy challenged me to a duel about a month ago. I wasn't going to accept and I didn't. But Ron accepted for me before I could stop him, and Malfoy set it for midnight that night in the trophy room. I wasn't going to go. I knew Malfoy couldn't be trusted, but Ron dragged me out, said that duels in the wizarding world are serious business and nobody would ever trust me if I didn't go. I was furious with him and told him that if they were so big a deal, he had no right to accept for me. Anyhow Hermione came with us out of the portrait trying to stop us and lecturing us on the stupidity of it all. She was so stuck up about it that she was annoying me even though I totally agreed with her. It got my back up and I told her that we were going. She turned to go back in but the Fat Lady wasn't in her frame so she and Neville came with us. Neville had been stuck outside because he'd forgotten the password again. I was right it was a set up but as we were running away from Filch the caretaker to avoid a detention, we came across a huge three headed dog called a Cerebus, standing on a trapdoor in a locked room on the east wing of the third floor which we'd been warned to stay away from. Apparently while we were running we'd accidentally ended up in the forbidden corridor on the third floor. I think that Dumbledore is hiding something there and I think that might be why someone let the troll into the school, to cause a panic so they could try and find it. Also, since Snape turned up limping right after that and looks like he's been bitten by a very large animal, he's either the person who let the troll in or was involved in stopping the person who let the troll in.**_

_**Hermione was furious with us, which I found a bit hypocritical since she did come too instead of waiting by the common room entrance, with Neville like he wanted her to. I was angry with Ron and told him that if he ever deliberately set me up like that again I wouldn't be friends. Then he was upset because he didn't think he did set me up, in his mind it was all Malfoy. Then a week later it's as if he's forgotten all about it and thinks he's my best friend again and Hermione has stopped lecturing us about it too, though this was before we became friends. I promise I wont let him accept any more duels for me even if I have to embarrass him by declaring that he doesn't have the right to accept after he has. **_

_**I must admit I was slightly disappointed that he'd forgiven me and decided to be my best friend again. I was having much more fun hanging out with Neville and with Dean and Seamus sometimes. Still I refused to drop Neville and include him on all our plans be it studying or relaxing and make sure the five of us hang out as a dorm more often too. I don't think Ron is particularly happy about it but I told him he wasn't my only friend and just as well if he was prone to going off and sulking for a week or so every time I stood up for myself or disagreed with him.**_

_**How is Caltech, are you enjoying your classes still. And how are your mum and your friend Ethan? Do you find having friends as confusing as I do? It wasn't like that with you and me. We just seemed to fit together and everything you encouraged me to do was for my benefit and made sense, you wouldn't have been upset with me if we'd disagreed about doing something, or I hadn't liked learning the same way you do. But here I'm having to compromise to keep friends and I don't know if I like it.**_

_**Your Best friend always**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	63. Chapter 63

**Chapter 63**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_Friday 12/13/91_

_Harry James Potter, what on earth is going on at that school. It's supposed to be a safe place for eleven year olds to live and learn magic, not a wild animal and creature exhibit. If I was a parent hearing all you've told me I would be sending a very firm letter to your headmaster and if I was a wizard that very firm letter would also be a __letter to the school board, or the education department.__ Unfortunately, I cannot do that because I think we need to hide my presence in your life so we're both not spelled to forget each other. I don't think whoever is trying to control your life would like the influence I have in encouraging you to think independently and to take notice of what's going on around you and to consider other people's motives in their actions. You're not the timid little shut in, grateful that the wizarding world has rescued you from a life of abuse that they wanted you to be. And while most of that is due to your efforts to learn as much about the world as you could I would like to take some credit in encouraging you._

_I did think of writing to Mrs Thomas and asking her to complain to the headmaster but from what you've told me about the prejudice against nonmagical people and children from nonmagical families I don't think it would do much good and I don't want to bring Mrs Thomas under suspicion or attract the wrong attention towards her either. Maybe you should subtly encourage your pureblood friends to write to their parents about the dangers._

_But Harry, you must know that I don't want you to try to stay safe for my sake. I want you to be as safe as possible so you don't get hurt for your own sake. I want you to grow up and fall in love, get married and have a family and do all the other things that you'd miss out on if you get yourself killed. I want you to be able to one day find out who sent you back to the Dursleys and to make sure he can never hurt you again and be safe. And I know you're not going to want to hear this but if the way to be safe is to leave Hogwarts and the Dursleys and disappear then I want you to do it. I would love if you disappeared over here so I could see you and keep an eye on you, but whatever you do I would like you to keep in touch with me if you think it's safe to do so. Nothing should matter more to you than being alive and well._

_I've been having nightmares that you were seriously hurt and needed someone to look after you and there wasn't anybody to do it. If you need me Harry send for me and I will try my best to get to you. Of course, I probably couldn't get into the magical world on my own and if you had someone you trusted enough to come and get me then you'd probably let them look after you in the first place but I do mean it. If you need me I would be happy to bring you here and care for you. Ethan would let you hide here in the dorm, he's getting sick of my nightmares waking him up._

_Promise me that you'll leave whatever is going on with that trapdoor alone. DO NOT go looking for more trouble. Remember you promised me to try to stay safe. I worry about you Harry and I care about you. Keep your head down Harry and stick to your school work and your friends and that insane sport you've become involved in. surely Quidditch is enough to satisfy your cravings for an adrenalin rush. And I thought football (our football not yours) was stupidly dangerous to let kids your age play, Quidditch is beyond all rational behaviour. I know that you said magical healing is much quicker and more effective than traditional medicine but I'm sure it still can't cure brain dead or quadriplegia from a broken neck. Please be careful._

_I'm glad that you're trying to be Hermione's friend but saddened that you think you need to change yourself for her friendship. YOU DON'T. It was a hard lesson for me to learn but no friendship or relationship is worth having to pretend to be someone you're not. That's why your friendship is so precious to me. Even when you didn't understand what I was rambling on about you still accepted me exactly as I am. _

_For me it wasn't a friend that I tried to change who I was for, it was my Dad. I tried so hard to be the kid he wanted me to be. The one who played sports and had friends. I tried and tried and tried. I tried so hard it was hurting me, and still he left. At first, I used to think if only I'd tried a bit harder__ he would have stayed or at least visited me like most other divorced fathers__. But the truth is that I couldn't try any harder, and if I wasn't good enough for him just the way I was I would never have been good enough for him no matter what I did. So, if Hermione or Ron or any other friends doesn't want to be friends with Harry James Potter then it is their loss, because you my friend are the best friend anyone has ever had and you don't need to change a single thing to make yourself more worth being friends with!_

_Changing to suit other people will only hurt you in the long run Harry, please don't think you need friends that badly. You're a great person, if your friends want you to change then you need to change friends._

_Your best friend always,_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	64. Chapter 64

**Chapter 64**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

A/N: Two letters today. As you can see the second isn't an answer to the first but sent before it arrived.

_Sunday 12/22/91_

_Dear____Harry _

_Merry Christmas, I hope you didn't have to go home to the Dursleys and that you managed to have a enjoyable Christmas for a change. I guess though that it would've been nice to see your friends at the restaurant again and let them know that you're doing okay now and they don't need to worry about you at least during the school year._

_I'm going home for Christmas of course, I have to go to give Mom's carers a break even if I didn't want to for Mom's and my own sake which I do. It's been a busy semester and I'll be glad of the break now my last exam is over. I'm not going to be so silly as to try not to read anything at all for days again. That was surprisingly stressful last time but I am not going to read anything related to my course work for the two weeks I'm home except for the essential pre-reading for the second Biochemistry unit._

_I've sent you books again. But this time they're some of the better texts recommended for your year level in English, along with a list of the essay questions they'd use with those books. I enjoyed reading all these books and I hope you will too. Please don't feel that you have to write the essays but perhaps it would be a good idea to read the novels with some of those themes and questions in mind. I know it's kind of like more school work than a proper present but I hope you get some enjoyment out of the books as well. _

_I've also sent you a scarf and hat and socks. I know crimson and black might not be exactly your school house colours but they were so nice and soft. I bought a hat in blue for Mom and a purple and black set for myself. I know some people think purple is a little girly but hopefully the black offsets that enough. It's my favourite colour and I've never had the courage to wear it before but I think it suits me._

_Don't worry about the cost too much. They were cheap because it doesn't really get cold enough to need them in the day time here and they weren't selling. I don't know why because it still gets awfully cold at night, though not as cold as Vegas at night in winter._

_Merry Christmas Harry, I'll write properly soon._

_Your friend always _

_Spencer._

_**Monday 23/12/91**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**Merry Christmas, I'm sending you a book that the Floursh and Blotts catalogue says is a classic novel everyone should read, though I found it a bit boring other than the magic and the stuff it told me about wizarding culture though I'm not too sure how accurate or up to date that is, and also my 'muggleborn guide to Herbology and potion making' , it's the nearest thing we have to Chemistry but when you read the book you'll see that it isn't very near at all. Snape doesn't teach much theory at all, not even the little that's in the book, it's all following recipes and essays on the uses and preparation methods of specific ingredients with very little information about why you should do things that way for a particular potion and not another. It's very frustrating. **_

_**As you can read there isn't any actual magic used by the brewer so you could probably make potions if you had access to the ingredients though you'd have to be very careful because they sometimes explode if you don't do it exactly right, just please don't try to take any of them, Madam Pomfrey told me that most of them don't work on muggles or squibs. There are some potions made specifically for squibs apparently that might work on you but we don't learn any of them at Hogwarts and I'm not game to risk it without knowing for sure. Still I hope you find the books interesting. **_

_**The sweets I sent are safe to eat though, there's no potions in them. My teammate Angelina actually bought the sweets for me to send you because first and second years aren't allowed to leave the school, but her mum is a muggle and she regularly eats all of the things that Angelina bought. The chocolate frogs have a spell on them to make them hop about when you first open them, so please be extra careful not to leave them where they could be taken by someone. The other two chasers on my team, Katie and Alicia showed me how to put preservation spells on them too so they'll keep as long as you want. I'll be able to do that with the biscotti next time I make them too. Not that I have access to a kitchen here, but I could send you some of my favourite things from the restaurant this summer, even meat would be safe to keep with this spell.**_

_**I'm staying at Hogwarts for the holidays. There're a few others staying too, including Ron and his brothers. His parents are going to Romania to visit one of the older brothers which seems pretty strange to me. Ron's always going on about them being poor and all his books and uniforms and his casual clothes are second hand but they can afford to go to Romania to visit for a fortnight. Not to mention that I would've thought they'd want the kids home over the holiday, since this is the first time Ron's been anywhere without his parents. Literally, he'd never spent the night anywhere without them, and now he's going to be away from them for more than six months because they decided to go and visit one of their older sons rather than having their four younger sons home for Christmas. **_

_**I'd tell you to wish Ethan and your mum a merry Christmas from me but they probably don't know about me. I haven't told my new friends about you, other than Dean that is and Seamus knows too since he's around when I give Dean the letters from his mum that Hedwig delivers to me with yours. I just don't want to listen to Ron rant about how stupid muggles are like he often does when Hermione mentions something her parents have done or said, and I don't want to tell Hermione things and ask her to keep them secret from Ron. It doesn't feel right. Not to mention that she'd ask about you and then get jealous that I have a friend so much more intelligent than she is that I turn to for advice. Dean and Seamus seem to understand without me telling them not to speak about the letters to the others. I hope I haven't upset you by telling you that my other friends don't know about our friendship. I wouldn't really mind if Neville finds out but it seems wrong to tell him and not Ron and Hermione. They are going to be angry enough at me when they find out, if they find out the rest of the dorm knew as well I don't think they'd ever forgive me.**_

_**Thanks for the reminder to be myself. You're right, Ron and Hermione aren't being very good friends in trying to stop me from studying the way I want to.**_

_**That sentence just struck me. I meant to write that they weren't very good friends if they were trying to change who I am and the way I do things but when I read it, I had another thought. What I wrote was literally true too. Ron and Hermione are both in their ways stopping me from studying as much as I would without them. Ron drags me away from my studying to play with him until the last minute when I have to rush to get the assignments done at all and they're never done as well as they could be. It also stops me from looking up other things in the library or doing any of the extra reading for my subjects. Hermione on the other hand wants me to concentrate on my assignments, in fact she seems to just about want to do half the work for us. I write a rough outline to plan out what I want to research and include, and she grabs it and corrects it as though it was a finished assignment, filling in just enough extra information to make sure I pass but don't do as well as she does.**_

_**Do you think that they might be trying to stop me from learning too much, just like Hagrid seemed to on Diagon Alley the day he took me to buy my books? Could they be doing it deliberately? And why? Or am I just being paranoid? Please tell me I'm just being paranoid and my friends aren't deliberately trying to sabotage me.**_

_**Hermione I could understand kind of. If she's been bullied as badly as we think she might have been she might feel that she needs to do our homework for us so we will stay friends with her, and it's understandable that she still wants to do better than we do since it's all her own work. And Ron could easily just be as lazy as he seems to be. His eating habits are a lot like Dudley's so it stands to reason that his study habits would be too. They're both signs of selfishness and the need for immediate gratification of an earlier stage of development. It could just be a coincidence, couldn't it?**_

_**You asked me about my other dorm mates. Yes, Dean and I get along okay, he's a nice guy but he mostly hangs out with Seamus who he met on the train and who's become his best friend. I like Seamus too but we don't really gel. I'm not sure why not. Seamus and Dean don't get along with Ron. It's mostly Ron's fault. They're both football fans and Seamus' dad sends him football scores and magazines which Ron thinks are rubbish. He's frequently complaining how dumb football is and you can imagine how well that goes down. Of course, I mean our football, what you call soccer but I'm sure the fans are the same. Seamus is a science fiction and superhero movie and comics fan. His mum sends him a new comic every week and he and Ron got into a huge argument the other day when he caught Ron trying to throw some out. They were encroaching into Ron's stuff, neither of them are at all tidy and their stuff is everywhere but that's no excuse. I just throw things back onto their beds when I'm cleaning my part of the dorm.**_

_**Neville the fifth boy in our dorm and the only other tidy person, doesn't really fit in with Me and Ron or Seamus and Dean either, though he's a lot more polite about it, he just doesn't understand all the football talk from Dean and all the movie and comic references from Seamus. He sits with us and Hermione in classes when the tables sit even numbers and he's wickedly good at Herbology so Hermione likes to partner with him then, and in potions so she can make sure he doesn't blow us all up and she protects him as much as she can from Professor Snape's wrath. He's grateful because he's terrified of Snape, even if she is a bit too condescending about it. He sometimes sits with us to study and I like working with him, we both just knuckle down and get on with it asking each other for help as we need it but not assuming that the other person doesn't understand things properly unless we ask. Other times he sits with with Lavender and Parvati when they're actually working and not just gossiping but I can't join the girls, they get all giggly and silly. I think Neville also has friends from before we started school in Hufflepuff. I wonder why he was so disappointed about the idea that he would be put there instead of Gryffindor. He might have been better off with them.**_

_**Is Ethan tidy? Does it drive you nuts that he's not and you are or that he's a neat freak and you're not so much? I realise I don't know for sure whether you're naturally tidy or whether you just had to keep everything in the sealed containers in the hideout. It's funny some of the things we don't know about each other when we know so much else isn't it.**_

_**Your friend**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	65. Chapter 65

**Chapter 65**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_Saturday 1/4/92_

_Dear Harry_

_Thank you for the gifts, and for the warning that the chocolate frogs jump. It gave me quite a shock so I'm glad I didn't open it in front of Mom. I had trouble bringing myself to eat the first one but I'm glad I did, it was the best chocolate I've ever tasted. The other sweets were interesting and very different from anything I get here but I guess there are quite a few nonmagical treats in England that aren't available here too and vice versa. I will send you some of our lollies and chocolate bars to try._

_The potions book was interesting, but you're right it would be good to know more of the theory behind things, that's the truly interesting part of it all. There must be some general rules or reasons things are done a particular way. It doesn't sound like your teacher is a very good teacher not to explain these things, even if he is brilliant at brewing potions themselves. _

_The novel made me laugh. It's so old fashioned in a lot of ways but it doesn't really fit with any actual historical period I've read about. I guess with the total lack of modern technology in the wizarding world it could be set anywhere from in the last few years or a couple of hundred years ago. You were right, as supposedly 'classic literature' it isn't very well written, and the inherent bigotry in the novel that nonmagical people were less human than they were and that the house elves were like highly trained dogs, or worse, most people treat their dogs a lot better than elves seem to be treated. I'd say the elves ate treated more like a vacuum cleaner, than a maid. You get it out, use it and put it away. You don't stop to thank the vacuum cleaner or feed it, you don't worry if the cupboard you keep it in is comfortable or crowded or too cold. It's just a machine it doesn't have feelings. I hope elves are treated better than that in real life._

_I'm glad you got to stay at school for the holidays. Do they hold Christmas celebrations for those that are there or was the Christmas party held before the other students left? I hope they do something special Christmas day. I guess I shouldn't assume that the wizarding world is Christian, they're just as likely to follow some of the older pagan or even druid religions, maybe more so since it was the Christian churches that were burning witches at the stake a couple of hundred years ago. Is there any religious observances or education at school, or do they like the regular school system not teach any religion to avoid offending those of other faiths?_

_Are there many students staying for the break? I would imagine some of the more studious senior students would want to stay for the library, particularly those from nonmagical homes. Perhaps this will be an opportunity to get to know a couple of people from the other houses and year levels. _

_Your quidditch team mates sound nice but I guess if they're two years or more ahead of you, and you've never mentioned them before you're not close to them away from practices. Still it was nice of them to help you with your shopping. It seems strange to me that you're not allowed to leave the school, even to go to the local village. I can't think of any other secondary school that's so restrictive. And surely the village would like it better if smaller groups were allowed to visit more often rather than all the top five years of students on one day every five or six weeks. It would make it very difficult for businesses to be suddenly swamped like that, and for the teachers to supervise their students in such a large number. One year level per weekend day with everyone getting a turn once a month would make much more sense, except perhaps from a teacher's perspective having to supervise the younger years. From what you've told me unless there are quite a lot of professors you haven't mentioned there really aren't enough staff to adequately supervise you outside of class time and complete the preparation and marking for their classes._

_Don't worry about what you tell your other friends, I'll never meet them so it makes no difference to me if they know you're writing to me or not. I'm glad Dean knows and has a way to contact me if you ever need me though, even if I'm still not sure how I'd get to you if you did._

_Ethan does know about you. He sees my enthusiasm as I receive your letters and I've told him a little about you. Not the big statute secret thing obviously, or the fact you were virtually homeless for those weeks in Vegas, but that you're my best friend from home and who's now in England._

_Mom has known since your first letter that I have a penfriend in England and is supportive of the idea, but she doesn't know that we've met, I originally told her that writing to you was a school assignment and that we've kept writing because we became friends. She's grateful that I have a friend to confide in and while in her right mind, respectful of the privacy of our correspondence. I keep your letters locked up in California and the ones I receive while in Vegas I keep on my person as much as possible or in the hideout until I get back to Caltech. As far as I know my original fear that she would destroy your letters before I got them doesn't seem to have occurred, but if I ever didn't respond to an important letter or seem to have ignored a question you wanted answered then it is possible I've missed one or two._

_As to your concerns about Ron and Hermione affecting your study habits, I wish I could tell you that you were just being paranoid but I'm afraid I don't know. It might be just that you were thinking like that when you told me about what they were doing that makes it seem like it's possible someone might have encouraged them to behave like that. One thing that I can say though is that I don't think that Ron at least is doing it on purpose. From what you've told me of his other habits that have nothing to do with what you are reading or learning he is genuinely that lazy and that procrastinating comes naturally to him. His behaviour fits into the pattern of his personality. I can't guarantee that his personality couldn't have been influenced to be like that but I doubt it was done with his knowledge and consent, or his parents. After all, for everything he stops you from learning he's stopping himself from learning even more._

_Hermione is more difficult to judge. I do think that she is oblivious of the effects of her personality and attitude most of the time. She might not realise she's stopping you from learning things for yourself. Or she might be doing it out of a need to feel that you need her help, even though I'm sure she knows deep down that doing someone's homework for them doesn't do a thing to really help them or form a real friendship between the two of you. Of course, you don't have to actually look at the work she's done for you. You should remember most of your draft outline well enough to do the research and write the essay without it. Have you tried asking her to stop and let you finish your work before she tries to correct it? If she apologises and stops doing it then it's likely she just didn't realise that her behaviour wasn't welcome, after all I'm sure that's exactly the sort of help Ron would want._

_I will remind you of what I've said before, real friends don't try to change you to suit their way of seeing things. Real friends would be happy that you're doing your work and trying to be the best that you can be. Real friends can be trusted to know your secrets but the fact you don't trust Ron or Hermione suggests that you already know they are not real friends. _

_You asked about Ethan, I believe he is a real friend, albeit a quite competitive friend. He and I have had a few disagreements more as we got to know each other that first semester. He teased me about going home so often at first but now I trusted him enough to tell him about Mom and he understands and supports me to go home and collects my assignments when I can't get back in time on a Monday if Mom has a bad day Sunday. Thankfully Ethan and I are about as tidy as each other and most of the time it's fine, every now and then one of us has a mad fit of tidying up and gets annoyed at the other persons mess but the irritation and cleaning fits pass pretty quickly. I am fairly tidy, I think it comes from living with Mom. So much of the time I had to do my own washing folding and ironing that I developed an appreciation for the work that goes into making my clothes look neat and tidy and putting them away properly keeps them nice and saves me from doing the work twice. That and things put away in cupboards, drawers and the bookshelf were less likely to upset Mom or attract her attention when she was having a bad day._

_Your friend_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	66. Chapter 66

**Chapter 66**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT **give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_** Monday 13/1/92**_

_**Dear Spencer **_

_**Christmas was so much fun here, though I would have preferred to spend it with you. Ron woke me up early to open presents and I actually had quite a few. Hogwarts must have a way of knowing that parcels are Christmas presents because your present was amongst the pile I got this morning. I had wondered why Hedwig came back from Mrs Thomas with just a letter for Dean the day before they left for the holidays.**_

_**Ron said he'd told his mum that I didn't expect to get presents from my aunt and uncle and Mrs Weasley took this as a reason to send me a present. That was nice of her but at most I expected some home baked treats or something impersonal. She did send fudge and it was really good too but she also knitted me a jumper with a letter H on the front, just the same as the jumpers she knitted for all her own children with their letters on the front. **_

_**The embarrassing thing was that with your present and ones from Dean and his mother and from Neville and Seamus and the girls on the Quidditch team and Hagrid and a mysteriously anonymous one, I actually had more presents than Ron. Not that I'm not grateful and I did send most of these people something as well, luckily I found the catalogues from Diagon Alley a while back and managed to owl order a lot of presents, for direct delivery. I couldn't do that with yours because it had to go so early to make it to Las Vegas before Christmas but I'll remember better next year and hopefully find some books that will be more interesting for you.**_

_**The coolest present I got was the one without a name on the tag, it's a cloak that makes the wearer invisible but the most amazing thing about it was that it belonged to my Dad. Whoever gave it to me said that Dad had left it with them before they died. Which when you think about it makes it a pretty shoddy present even if it is just about the coolest thing I've ever seen, just giving me something they should have returned to me anyway. And then not to sign their name so I can't contact them and ask them more about my Dad. Maybe they didn't want me to know who'd kept my Dad's cloak all these years. Still, I'm glad they didn't try to return it to me at the Dursleys, Vernon and Petunia would probably have burnt it in front of me, and threatened to throw me in the fire with it too, no doubt. They certainly wouldn't want me to have a magical cloak that lets me hide from them.**_

_**We did have a big Christmas feast the night before the other students went home and there's only nine students and a couple of the professors here so I wasn't expecting anything special on Christmas day but we did have a proper Christmas dinner with all the trimmings and magical Christmas Bonbons, with hats and favours which were much better than the silly little toys you get in the nonmagical bonbons. I got a set of chess pieces. I hadn't noticed until you said anything but there's nothing at all religious about our Christmas celebration at school, nor was there really any mention of Father Christmas or Santa Claus. There are lots of decorations, Christmas trees and holly, no mistletoe though. The presents arrived overnight for Christmas morning but they were all from people I know, except the invisibility cloak and I know it didn't come from Santa. Neville did wish me a Blessed Yule rather than Merry Christmas but I didn't pay much attention. I'll have to ask him about it.**_

_**I was roaming the hallways in my new cloak when I found a strange magical mirror, it's called the Mirror of Erised, which I'm sure you immediately realised is desire spelled backwards. It shows you what you want the most. Ron saw himself as head boy and winning the quidditch cup but I saw my family, my Mum and Dad and grandparents, aunts and uncles and you were there with me, along with someone that looked like it could've been your mum, smiling and looking fit and well. I wish I knew whether that was what they all really looked like or if the images came from my imagination. I wanted to just sit there and stare at them, memorise every detail but Dumbledore found me and told me that witches and wizards have in the past have sat in front of the mirror until they died of starvation, he's moved it and if I come across it again I promise to stay away from it. He said that the mirror encourages people to dwell on dreams instead of living their lives, and that I will see my family in the next life. So I guess wizards believe in some form of heaven or afterlife even if I'm not sure they believe in religion.**_

_**I'm afraid that I'm in Dean's bad books, apparently, I sent his mum more chocolate than he gave her for Christmas. He didn't sound too upset about it though so don't worry, and Mrs Thomas was grateful.**_

_**You'll be pleased to know I placed in the top twenty-five percent of my year for the end of term exams, only just which is right about where I planned to be. I was ninth out of the forty of us overall, first in DADA and flying, third in Herbology thanks to the gardening experience I got landscaping the back yard a couple of years ago and fourth in Charms. Ron scored thirty sixth overall, and Hermione was of course first in everything except flying, DADA and Herbology. Neville was first in Herbology and Dean and Seamus were content with being eighteenth and twentieth in the year. Hermione got a ridiculous 137% for Charms by answering all the bonus questions correctly.**_

_**Honestly Hermione's more upset about her placings than Ron is, though his mother sent him a howler (an angry letter that screams the words at you in the sender's voice, very humiliating in the middle of breakfast and a bit mean I think, and if it was meant to motivate him to work harder to improve his ranking in the grade then it hasn't worked at all yet and I don't think it will).**_

_**I will tell you about my quidditch team mates. I forgot I hadn't already. Our captain and keeper is Oliver Wood, he's a fifth year and totally obsessed with winning the house quidditch cup. We are lucky that Madam Hooch the flying instructor limits how much time we're allowed to spend training or he'd have us out there every morning and every evening. Our beaters are the Weasley twins, Ron's older brothers they're third year but I wouldn't ever ask them to buy me anything from Hogsmeade you for fear that they'd prank it. Then the Chasers are Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinet also in third year and second year Katie Bell. The three girls are best friends and very close, they hang out with Fred and George a lot too. They're all nice but they treat me more like a baby brother than a friend. It's useful if I ever need help with a spell or something but it does get annoying. **_

_**I'm glad you enjoyed the novel. You'd be surprised to know I talked about it with Angelina and Alicia and they both liked it because of the lack of pureblood bigotry in the story. They were so pleased that the characters blood status and ancestries weren't mentioned that they didn't even notice the bigotry against muggles, goblins and house elves. I wouldn't be surprised if house elves really are that badly treated in a lot of households. I was shocked to find that there are about a hundred here in the castle. They do all the cooking laundry and cleaning but I've never seen one. Apparently, it's a sign of a good elf not to be seen. I didn't know who was doing those things for me so I've never thanked them or apologised when my quidditch robes were covered in mud or my school robes in something much worse. I feel guilty now but I don't know if they would want me to thank them or if they'd rather I never notice them. I've taken to saying thankyou if I'm alone when I put my clean clothes away or come back to the dorm to find it clean and tidy or new sheets on the bed, but I have no way of knowing whether the elf that did the work will hear me.**_

_**I'm glad you had a good holiday with your mum. Are you back at school yet? Do you change subjects in the middle of this year as well? What are you studying now? More Chemistry and more Mathematics or did you decide to try an Engineering subject? How did you go with the dance class, you never mentioned it? Did you enjoy it? Did it help you learn to talk to girls?**_

_**Your friend always**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	67. Chapter 67

**Chapter 67**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_ Tuesday 1/21/92_

_Dear Harry_

_I'm really pleased that you're doing so well in your classes. Are you still toning down your abilities very much? I remember you didn't want to attract too much attention, and as you said the people watching you would expect you to be good at Herbology after all the gardening you've done for the Dursleys over the years and everyone else expects you to be good at Defence because you supposedly defeated Voldemort as a baby, though I think you might be right that it wasn't actually anything you did. But flying, why did you choose to be good at that?_

_You're right to worry that the gift from Ron's mother was over the top and a little inappropriate, for a gift from the mother of a friend, more so when you include the fact that she barely knows you herself, especially as she didn't send it to Ron for him to give you. I don't know what is up with them. Is she the woman you met on the platform on the way to school? You were suspicious about her behaviour then too. You're also right that sending a letter that scolds you out loud where all of your friends and classmates can hear is a bit emotionally abusive. I'm very glad that technology doesn't exist to do that in the nonmagical world, I dread to think how my mother would react to receiving one. It is odd though, that Ron's mother is trying so hard to make a good impression on you with over the top gifts and then she goes and does that to the reason the two of you are in contact at all. Maybe she didn't think it through and the howler shows her real personality. I don't have any idea why she would try so hard to make such a good impression though? It doesn't make any sense, even if Ron was your best or only friend it wouldn't make sense. It would've made slightly more sense for Dean's mother to have sent you something but even that would probably have been something small like sweets, and was unnecessary as your gift to her was in thanks for the effort of passing our letters along._

_When you add your suspicions of Mrs Weasley to your suspicions about Ron then I'm afraid that there is something odd going on with your friendship with him. If I were you, I'd listen carefully next time he tries to influence your opinions on things. What is he trying to get you to think and believe? And who do those beliefs benefit? Are they for your own good like making sure you eat enough and do your homework and pre-readings and go to bed on time to get enough sleep, learn to think for yourself or stay away from dangerous things or is he trying to prevent you from being friendly to a certain group of people or stop you from learning anything in particular? How do the Weasleys benefit from you being best mates with Ron? I'm afraid that I can't help you with that. I can't see an advantage but of course I only know what you've told me so think through all the things you know about Ron and the Weasleys that you haven't told me. Maybe there's an answer there._

_I'm glad you sent Mrs Thomas a Christmas present as well as sending one to Dean, I only sent her a card. I'm sure she wasn't too upset with Dean, after all anything he bought her came out of money she gave him in the first place._

_I'm also a bit suspicious about that invisibility cloak. As you pointed out whoever borrowed it should have returned it directly it isn't a gift, but on the other hand who gives an eleven year old the ability to become invisible and get away with being in places they shouldn't be? Please try not to get into any dangerous situations using it. And don't get caught trying to find blackmail material on the professors or spying on the senior girls in the shower which is what I know Ethan would probably have been tempted to do if he had a cloak like that. Keep in mind also that your headmaster is rumoured to be one of the strongest wizards in history with a lot of unique gifts. I wouldn't guarantee that he couldn't see through the cloak or at least see enough to know you're there or be able to sense you by your magic somehow. The other teachers might have a way to tell you're there too if cloaks like that are common in the wizarding world. Not to mention that if someone can't see you coming then they can't avoid you. You could easily be accidentally knocked down the stairs or something. Please be careful with it._

_The Mirror of Desire or 'Erised' sounds fascinating. I can see where it would be a trap to be able to see your parents and grandparents, especially for you who had never even seen their photographs, but I don't think it would really satisfy you if you still couldn't communicate with them. There must be some sort of magical lure if men have literally sat there and starved to death looking at an image. I hope you take Dumbledore's advice and stay away from it. He seems to have your best interest at heard in this one instance at least, though I have to wonder what an object so dangerous was doing sitting in a school somewhere you could so easily find it._

_I have sent you a photo of me and Mom so you can at least see how accurate the picture of her is compared to the image in the mirror but perhaps you should ask one of the professors for the contact details of your father's friends and write to them. They might be able to send you pictures of your dad and tell you some stories about him. You might get lucky and hear a bit about your mom too but remember that unless you're willing to tell people how abusive the Dursleys are they'll expect you to know about your mom. Mind you that might not be a bad way of going about letting people know that the Dursleys aren't the loving family you parents' friends would want for you._

_Mom and I had a good Christmas break together, even if we didn't actually celebrate. We spent the day reading to each other and eating store bought Christmas cookies and Chinese takeout. It was just the two of us for the entire time I was home. I understand that her friends and relatives need a break I just wish I had the opportunity to get to know the people looking after Mom for me a little better._

_It is good to be back at school though. I do have newish subjects but they all pretty much flow on from the subjects I did last semester, except I'm doing an extra chemistry subject instead of Dance. I did pass it so it was worth doing but I can't say that it helped me to be more comfortable around girls or that I enjoyed it. I'm very glad that it's over and done with._

_Your friend always_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	68. Chapter 68

**Chapter 68**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Thursday 30/1/92**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**Thank you for your belief that I could choose to be good at whatever subject I wanted but the truth is that it wasn't a conscious choice. I love to fly. It just came so naturally to me that I couldn't hide it. It's also why I got picked for the quidditch team, well that and catching a magical glass ball Malfoy had stolen from Neville and tried to throw at the castle wall to break it. It's worth it though, to be on the team and allowed to fly whenever I want, and apparently my father was a quidditch player too so nobody seems surprised that I'm good at it. **_

_**And DADA just comes easily to me, partly because I'm used to having to fight for my safety, running from and outsmarting Dudley's friends taught me situational awareness and improved my running speed and reflexes. The defensive spells just come more easily to me than making a teaspoon dance or turning a beetle into a button. Probably because they're spells I could see myself actually using one day. Half the spells we learn don't make any sense at all, from a practical point of view it's much easier to turn a small piece of wood or a stone into a button than a living creature and so far we've learned how to make a match into a needle and a beetle into a button though two matches would've been easier but we still can't sew on the button because we haven't learned to make thread, not to mention most of the class probably can't sew. And all to do the same job a sticking charm could do much more easily, though maybe not so fashionably not that I'd care about that.**_

_**I will admit to you that I'm holding back in all my other subjects, in Defence too actually since I'm still using the fake wand I made for all my classes including transfiguration which was the one I was most worried that I'd have to give in and start using the real one to succeed. I have no doubts that even with the fake I could be at the top of all my subjects except Transfiguration and I'd probably make top four or five in that as well, first if I used my real wand. Hermione would not be my friend if I beat her to first place though, she was angry enough about me beating her in Defence and Herbology, even though I'm still letting her beat me soundly in the theory half of both the classes. She hates flying so she's decided it's just a sport not a real subject and not worth her time. A bit like you and that dance class I guess.**_

_**I took your advice about asking Hermione not to try to correct my work until I'd finished drafting it properly and she was miffed about it but she did back off. I had hoped that she would see how much work I put in and not feel the need to correct my essay but she still wanted to see it. She marked it up with red ink so I had to rewrite it but didn't make any corrections worth including, just one thing that really wasn't relevant to the topic and would make the essay too long, so I rewrote the essay the same as it already was and got an 'outstanding'. She didn't even ask to check my other finished work for a while but the other day I had to remind her not to correct the first draft again and she got upset with me again. I don't want to think that someone made her forget or ignore our agreement but why else would she do that.**_

_**I know I should be flying under the radar, not handing in 'outstanding' homework assignments but she made me so angry and it was for Defence Against the Dark Arts which is my best subject and the subject everyone expects me to like best and do really well in. It's not my favourite subject actually, I don't like Quirrell and I don't really want to learn to fight with magic though I am good at it, I like charms best even if half of them don't have a practical application. Professor Flitwick is such a great teacher he makes every spell fun to learn, and I like the challenge of transfiguration, it's my hardest subject and I still think that I could love potions if we had a decent professor as well.**_

_**I've been enjoying the books you sent me and the essay questions you sent with them has helped me see deeper into the characters and the author's reason for writing certain situations and reactions. It's surprising how much more I got out of each book once I started looking at all of those things rather than just enjoying the story. I've also started rereading some of my old favourites to see if I can figure out the author's motivations and the themes they're writing about.**_

_**Your friend always **_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	69. Chapter 69

**Chapter 69**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_Saturday 2/8/92_

_Dear Harry_

_Harry I'm worried that there's a problem with your friends' memories. In this last letter you wrote that after a few days Hermione had seemed to forget agreeing not to do your homework for her and when you told me about the duel you told me Ron was upset with you for a week or so before seeming to forget that you'd been fighting at all. Do you think they're really forgetting these things or just deciding to get over the fight, or ignore what you want to keep doing what she's always done? Could they have changed their behaviour themselves or did someone take away those memories. And if so, why would they? Who would have a motive for your friends forgetting those things? And if they did decide to pretend to forget it why? I can see Hermione being so desperate to have friends that she would force herself to get over a difference of opinion but in that case, she would have been careful not to upset you by doing the same thing again. And I can see Ron ignoring a fight the two of you have had so he doesn't need to apologise to get back to being friends once he's calmed down enough to value your friendship again. Either scenario is possible but the fact that it happened twice is a bit much of a coincidence, maybe you should keep an ear out for what else they might have forgotten or been forced/encouraged to ignore._

_I will remind you again that a real friend would be happy that you've done so well in your exams, not angry with you for beating them. Ethan and I are very competitive with the subjects we share, but the only person I'm angry at if he beats me is myself for not working harder and doing better and likewise for him. If I beat him his congratulations are genuine, his help if I need it is always immediately and ungrudgingly offered but not forced upon me, and our friendship is only strengthened by our competition for the top spot in the class. Of course, Ethan and I are older than Hermione so it might just be immaturity causing her to act like a spoilt brat who had their favourite toy taken away._

_I don't quite understand why the Hogwarts curriculum places so much importance on the use of wands and the particular wand movements if you don't need one. Is it that your magic is stronger than the other students because you learned to control it without a wand so many years ago and used it so often it built up the strength like a weightlifter builds up muscle or is it a way of controlling the general public, force them to believe they cannot do magic without a wand when really the wand is merely a method they use to track which person did what magic, and to give them the ability to threaten to take magic away from someone by taking their wand? _

_I'm glad that you're enjoying the books and that the essay questions helped you to read them more analytically. It doesn't sound like any of the subjects at Hogwarts teach that skill, even History which should if it were being taught properly. Something that I'm sure you will agree Professor Binns doesn't try to do. It's said that history is written by the victors and the wizards obviously think that they won the goblin wars but it doesn't make sense. Why on earth would you let a race of people that have gone to war against you so many times have exclusive control of all the money in your society? And surely there are other things that have happened in history that are more important that you learn about than every single battle with the goblins. The founding of your school, the founding of your government the beginning of the statute of secrecy, wars with other races if there are any. The historical discoveries of the first known magic users, just to name a few things I'd want to know just off the top of my head._

_I'm kind of amused that flying on a broomstick is actually part of your curriculum. I guess the statute of secrecy isn't always perfectly kept for things like that to make it into nonmagical fiction, but the general fiction is that witchcraft and flying broomsticks are very much a feminine trait. I wonder why? Of course, it might have been that the majority of screen writers back then were men and probably pretty nerdy men who find it easier to write than talk to people they found women mysterious enough that it wasn't too much of a stretch to believe they had powers that men do not. From your descriptions of quidditch broom flying is very different from what you see of witches in movies who seem to be able to fly any old fashioned handmade broom._

_I understand your frustration with learning spells that have no or very little practical application. Have you ever asked your professors why they bother to teach fruit to dance etcetera? I also have some moral objections to the idea of turning a living creature into a non-living object. Do you reverse these spells afterwards, and are the animals harmed or traumatised by the experience? I guess it's hard to tell what a beetle might be feeling but the older students probably use bigger animals. _

_I'm enjoying all my new subjects, they might be mostly follow on from last semester's subjects but half of the have a new lecturer and different tutorial groups. The new lecturers all seem very knowledgeable and patient with my questions in their office hours. My Chemistry lecturer has offered me a research project to do, I'm very interested in it at the moment and I hope it will hold my interest long term but you know me, my brain is always scattered in a dozen different directions wanting to learn anything and everything. If I succeed with the project it will count towards my honours in Chemistry and may lead to me being accepted to do Masters or even PhD research._

_My new tutorial groups are a bit of a challenge. I find I get too enthusiastic talking about the subject and they ask me to stop talking and stick to the subject and the stuff that will be in the end of semester examinations. I must admit I do go off on tangents a lot of the time. It's just all so interesting and often the tangents are more interesting than the core material. Still I'm learning which tutorial groups will appreciate my insights and when I should just stick to helping my group understand the core material and prepare for their assignments and exams the way they want me to. I remind myself that they don't need to be my friends to study with me and to concentrate my energy on genuine friends like Ethan. He's in my Math tute group and he eggs me on to ramble, we sort of took over the whole thing and ended up bouncing theories off each other that are way beyond the scope of the current course subject._

_Your friend always_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	70. Chapter 70

**Chapter 70**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Monday 17/2/19**_ _**Dear Spencer **_

_**You'll never guess what Hagrid is doing! He has a dragon egg and he's got it in his fireplace trying to hatch it. Ron Hermione and I went down to visit him today. He's really excited about having a new pet, but dragons breathe fire and grow to be about the size of a lorry, and he lives in a wooden house. Dragons are among some of the most dangerous creatures in the magical world, this is about as stupid as one of your friends trying to keep a lion or wild bear cub in their dorm room and leaving the door unlocked for anyone to come by and get mauled. Not to mention the possibility that the mother will come looking for it. I don't know if she will or not, because Hagrid couldn't tell me anything about where the person who gave it to him got the egg. I didn't know what to do. I know I probably should try to tell someone he's going to listen to about the dangers because he just wouldn't listen to us. It didn't help that Ron was nearly as excited about it as Hagrid is and even Hermione has agreed to keep Hagrid's secret.**_

_**I don't want to be a tattle-tail or to get Hagrid in trouble but I felt I had to do something. Having a dragon on school grounds was just too dangerous and Hagrid just wouldn't listen, he never thinks any creature is too dangerous he says they're just misunderstood, like those religious do-gooders who try to keep delinquent teenagers out of jail believing that a little religion and positive attention will cure everyone. Protecting this unborn dragon is more important to Hagrid than the hundreds of students that could be hurt if it got into the school and went on a rampage. So, I sent an anonymous letter to Professor McGonagall telling her that Hagrid had a new very dangerous creature in his hut and I was worried about the safety of the school if it gets out. They're friends and I'm sure she will try to help without telling the authorities. I just hope she takes the letter seriously enough to investigate and find out about the dragon for herself. Of course, if Ron or Hagrid find out I did it they're not going to talk to me again for a very long time, but Ron's more likely to blame Hermione. **_

_**I know you will tell me that I shouldn't let her take the blame and if he finds out about the letter I will tell him it was me. Maybe if he and Hermione were angry with me I could spend more time hanging out with Dean and Seamus and Neville and get to know them a little better and get some work done in peace. **_

_**I'll keep you informed and try to send you a photo of the egg and the baby dragon if it's not taken care of before then. I promise I will try my best to be careful.**_

_**I thought about what you said about them forgetting, and I don't know who would take those memories away, let alone why anyone would do it. I want to dismiss it and say that we must have been mistaken. I mean look at the facts. Ron forgetting our fight and choosing to act like my best friend again when it was clear I didn't consider him to be that. It only benefits Ron I guess since he's the one who's so keen on us being friends and in that case, he could just be pretending to have forgotten the whole thing so he didn't have to apologise, which you have to admit fits with his personality. For that matter making me annoyed at Hermione about the essays again also could benefit Ron because he might have thought I'd hang out with him more, if I was hanging out with Hermione less and that if I was cross with her we could both ignore her nagging us to do our homework and stuff. I can't see how the incident with Ron benefits anybody else, why would anyone care which dorm mates I hang out with? And if someone wanted me to stop trying to do my work on my own and learn as much as I could, making Hermione forget not to correct my first draft isn't going to make much difference to that. It might stop me hanging out with her if it happens again but it's not going to stop me from learning. **_

_**One potentially good thing if Ron and Hermione find out that I told McGonagall about the dragon egg then they will be upset with me again like Ron was over me telling him off for accepting the duel. Then if someone does have a reason for wanting them to be my friends, they'll do something to solve the problem again. I'll try to keep an eye out and see what happens, if he seems to forget that we're fighting again I'll ask him about the letter and see if he has really forgotten or if he's ignoring it to be friends again for some reason, and I'll know if someone is interfering with their memories. That won't tell me who or why of course. I've also stepped up my occlumency practice again, I'd begun to slack off on it with so many other things to learn and do. Hopefully, that will be enough to protect my own memories.**_

_**There's something else we found out about Hagrid. He was employed as groundskeeper at Hogwarts after being expelled, though he won't tell us what he was expelled for. It really doesn't make sense if he did something bad enough to be kicked out of school, then he should have been sent away but I think he was employed straight away, how does that punish him for what he did. That explains his loyalty to Dumbledore who gave him a job in the wizarding world when he should have been outcast. Anyway, when Hagrid was expelled his wand was snapped. He's got the pieces hidden in his pink umbrella. Remember how he pointed it at Dudley to give him the tail and then couldn't reverse it because he said the tail wasn't what he'd intended to do. So, Hagrid isn't doing wandless magic like I thought. He's using a wand but because it's broken the spells don't work out properly. I wondered whether the broken wand makes such a big difference or if the spells don't work properly because Hagrid believes that they won't. Belief in yourself and that the spells will work has a lot to do with your success. That's one of the reasons that Neville struggles so much learning a new spell because he doubts himself so much. I don't think that I'm that my magic is much stronger than an adult wizard but I am able to use more magic than most of my year level, or at least I was at the start of the year because even those who grew up in a magical home didn't use magic regularly before starting school. I remember how my magic grew after I came home from America and started trying to use it all up every day, and again after someone tried to weaken it at the Dursleys. The others' magic doesn't seem to have grown like that though, they still seem tired at the end of a practical class. I guess that might be one way I'm giving myself away without noticing. Even doing it without the help of a wand, one class doesn't use enough magic to wear me out.**_

_**I wonder whether using wands prevents them from needing to use enough magic to cause it to grow or perhaps the wand itself is designed to somehow prevent the growth in magic? That would be one reason for someone insisting that all children are taught that they need to use a wand, to limit the strength of the new generation, but I don't know why someone would want to. Unless it's applied only to certain wands, to limit the strength of muggleborns and muggle raised and I'm not seeing a growth in magic from the others because they've been doing magical strengthening exercises to maximise their magic before coming to Hogwarts. I'm starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist nutter? Am I becoming too paranoid? I wish I knew who was behind me being sent back to the Dursleys and whether this wand thing has anything to do with that person trying to stop me from being able to do magic before coming to Hogwarts. Maybe it wasn't meant maliciously but was just done to try to stop me from building up my magic and realising the truth about wands being unnecessary and bad for a person's magic. And if that's all true how many of my classmates are also using fake wands? I can't even try to find out because apparently touching someone else's wand is more personal than touching their cock without permission.**_

_**I did ask Professor Flitwick why we learn so many silly charms instead of more useful things like cleaning and ironing charms and stuff we're actually going to use. He said that while some of them seem a bit silly they're a good easy spell to practice particular wand movements and the spells I think more useful are more complicated with multiple wand movements and don't appeal to most eleven year olds who would prefer to make fruit and plates dance than wash or cook them. So, the short answer seems to be we learn the spells we learn to make us associate certain wand movements with a particular reaction, which makes us more reliant on our wand to cast the spell. I didn't dare to ask him why wand movements are necessary in the first place because I didn't want him questioning whether I could do a spell without them.**_

_**I sometimes wonder whether I should tell my friends this theory and help their magic to grow too, but then I'd have to work out who my real friends are first and whether I could trust them not to tell anybody else. Sometimes I think that you are the only person I can trust and I really don't like feeling like this. Not that I regret trusting you at all, I'm so thankful we found a way to keep in touch. I don't think I could cope with all this without you to write to.**_

_**Your friend always**_

_**Harry.**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	71. Chapter 71

**Chapter 71 **

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Spencer was becoming more and more worried about Harry and the situation at Hogwarts. Harry desperately wanted to know who he could or couldn't trust and Spencer was afraid that might lead him to doing something rash to try to find out.

_Thursday 2/28/92_

_Dear Harry_

_I am more grateful that you trust me than I can clearly express. I promise to never deliberately do anything to not deserve or betray that trust. On the other hand I am saddened by the fact that even though your life has improved being away from the Dursleys you still are surrounded by people that you cannot trust and I cannot say that you are wrong about any of them and not only because I haven't met them but because most of the people around you have either done at least one suspicious thing or they clearly support Dumbledore who you already have good reasons to know you can't trust with your wellbeing. But that doesn't automatically mean that they all can't be trusted. If you described all of the professors and support staff then Hogwarts is woefully understaffed for a boarding school with nearly three hundred underaged students. The professors would be too busy to pay much attention to what Dumbledore gets up to when he's away from the school and most of them would assume it was legitimate business for one of his other two roles. Of course, that doesn't mean they couldn't unknowingly pass on information to their boss that you would rather Dumbledore not find out without meaning you any harm. I guess what I'm saying is don't automatically assume all the professors are your enemies, I'm sure they're probably not enemies and will act to protect you as they would to protect any other student, just don't trust them with any secrets you aren't willing for Dumbledore to know. That doesn't mean you shouldn't ask them for help to find a safe place to stay for the summer, if Dumbledore's the one who put you back at the Dursleys last year he already knows about the abuse and that you don't like it there. I don't think that would alert him that you have somehow broken the spell that made you forget about it, he must have realised that an assault like that wasn't an isolated incident, and he left you with enough memories of their treatment to make anybody want to avoid going back there. _

_Your plan to use the next fight you have with Ron to see if someone alters his memories is a good one. It would have to be a fight over something serious for it to work though, I hate to say it but the letter to McGonagall might not be enough, especially if he does have an ulterior motive for wanting to be your friend._

_It must be so cool to get the opportunity to see a dragon egg, and I guess it is the only really safe time to get so close to a dragon. I wish I could be there to see it with you. I know you told me they're real but it still seems impossible. At they as big and as dangerous as they sound? I won't ask about whether they're like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park because you probably haven't seen it. I wish that you had a camera that you could send me pictures but I hesitated to buy you one for Christmas because I didn't want you to have to find a way to buy film and get it processed and I wasn't sure if a normal camera and film would work around magic. Of course, there was some pictures of different dragons in one of the books you sent me but it was too small to see too many details. I suppose a photograph would have the same problems too._

_But Harry think, what's Hagrid going to do when the egg hatches. The books all say dragons are one of the most dangerous creatures in existence. Dragon's breathe fire and grow to an enormous size, you cannot keep one in a house, much less a wooden house on school grounds. It will eventually be big enough to knock down the walls and escape, and that's only if it didn't set the place in fire first What if it got out and ate a student? I am glad with all this doubt you have for your professors that you at least trusted Professor McGonagall to help Hagrid with the dragon._

_Your theory on wands seems to have some merit but I'm not at all sure if there's a way to test the hypothesis and find the truth. The fact that it is taboo to touch another person's wand makes it more than possible that some wands are real and others fake but if the government and the purebloods are that prejudiced against muggleborn witches and wizards why train them at all, or why not have a different school for them to ensure they don't learn as much as purebloods? _

_Unfortunately, I think your theory about purebloods doing magical strengthening exercises or using fake wands as well doesn't seen to match what's happening with your friends, you told me Neville is struggling to get his spells to work and Ron is almost at the bottom of your grade rankings. If they have been doing something to make their magic stronger before starting school, it hasn't worked. They could both be using fake wands but if they're struggling so much wouldn't they have at least considered giving in and getting a real one? Neville particularly since he went home for the Christmas break and could easily have gone and bought one. Ron might've had to wait for the next holidays but that only makes the Weasleys leaving him at school over the holidays even more suspicious._

_Your friend_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	72. Chapter 72

**Chapter 72**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Saturday 7/3/92**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**I heard Dudley's friends talking about Jurassic Park though you're right I didn't get to see it, and I can't say if dragons look anything like that but I can tell you that they're as smart as that really dangerous one that could think, and got out of the cage and nearly killed them all. The movie gave Dudley nightmares for weeks, I wish I could send him some photos of dragons to let him know they really do exist and not just in the wilds of some foreign jungle but actually here in the United Kingdom. **_

_**I would like to be able to send you photos of things as well. I will look into magical cameras over the summer. Or if I find out they work I could get one of those disposable ones and send it to you. **_

_**Ron and Hermione haven't found out about the letter yet, and Hagrid still has the dragon egg, he says it should be getting close to hatching. He's been staying up tending the fire for days to keep it hot enough to incubate the dragon, but if it requires that much heat then the egg might already be dead from being kept in Hagrid's pocket the night he won it. His spells don't work well enough for him to have risked insulating his pocket and spelling it hot, not to mention that from what Hagrid said the guy he won it off had it in his pocket too and just handed it over so it must have been cool enough to touch. I don't want to hope it won't hatch, part of me really wants to see it but it might be the best option. Maybe that's why McGonagall hasn't done anything but that would be kind of cruel to let Hagrid be tricked with a dead egg like that and keep his hopes up all week waiting for it to hatch. I'm trying really hard to trust that she'll do something before the students are put in danger but it's getting harder and harder.**_

_**Ron and Neville both have what look like old family wands not new ones. I don't think that the Weasley's could afford to buy Ron a new wand. My wand cost 7 Galleons which is about 350 pounds sterling which doesn't sound like that much for something so important, but I have no idea what the average wage is in the magical world. I don't think his wand is fake though. He hates having second hand things so much that if his wand is just a transfigured stick then wouldn't his mum or dad have transfigured it to look new? It would've been just as easy. It must be real but I wonder why they didn't try to get him one of his own, if they could afford to buy presents for me and go to Romania for Christmas then they must have been able to afford to buy a wand. Surely nobody who bought a wand and received Ollivander's ramble about the wand choosing the wizard or saw how it took multiple tries to find an appropriate match would question why even a poor family would buy their children their own wands. I don't know what reason Neville has for using a second hand wand, I think Neville's family have money. All the rest of his school things look new and his nonuniform clothes look like they're high quality and fairly new though I really can't judge wizarding fashion. I've heard some of the second year girls gossiping about the Longbottom heir so I think his family might have had a serious lot of old family money at one stage though I don't know if they still do. Those girls thought they do though. Seamus' wand looks new but half his spells turn out as explosions like the wands that Ollivander said weren't suited to me did. I haven't asked him whether he went to Ollivander's and was properly matched to a wand or not but I think he secretly enjoys making things explode so maybe he's doing it on purpose half the time and his magic has just got so used to doing it that it's become his go to reaction to trying to use magic?**_

_**I'm spending a lot more time studying with Neville, I always invite him to sit with us or come to the library when Hermione drags me there. I invite Dean and Seamus too but they won't sit to study with Ron or Hermione. I don't think Ron likes me including Neville all the time but Hermione seems happy to concentrate on helping him and leaves me be a bit more when he's there. Neville doesn't seem to mind letting her take over his work but I've noticed that he doesn't write a rough draft, if Hermione doesn't interfere, he hands in the first draft of an assignment so she is correcting his finished work and not stopping him from learning, and his marks have got better since he started studying with us more often.**_

_**I'm also spending more time with the quidditch team turning up early for afternoon training and hanging about afterwards. They still treat me more like a little brother but they don't seem to mind me hanging about and some of the spells they show me are really useful, well the one's Oliver and the girls show me are the twins mostly show me pranking spells which are funny but a lot of them are a bit mean too for the person hit with them. I don't know that I'll use any of them unless someone attacks me first and even then it would be better to cast something that stops them from attacking me again than to turn them into a girl or something that makes them even more angry at me.**_

_**Your friend always**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	73. Chapter 73

**Chapter 73**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT **give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_ Monday 3/16/92_

_Dear Harry_

_You did the right thing telling Professor McGonagall about Hagrid having a dragon egg, from some of the stories in the books you've sent me a dragon fire is capable of burning down a stone building and almost impossible to put out or to fully heal the damage done by it. A school full of curious teenagers is no place to be trying to raise a baby dragon without any of the safety protocols to protect the students. I wonder that Dragon eggs are so easily come by, I wouldn't have thought that the mother dragon would willingly part with one and stealing an egg from one sounds insanely dangerous, you would think that the eggs would be incredibly valuable to collectors even if they don't have any use in potions. Your friend Hagrid sounds a little more simpleminded in your last letter than your earlier stories of him suggested. I can't imagine why Professor McGonagall hasn't done anything about it before it hatched though. I would've thought that it would've been kinder not to let Hagrid get attached to a baby dragon since there is no way he could keep it safely unless he left the school and went with it somewhere they keep dragons, like a wildlife park or something. I'm not ashamed to admit that what you said about the dragon being as smart as a Velociraptor gave me a nightmare last night because everything in the books says they are just as vicious and deadly. If that dragon stays where it is then nobody in your school is safe._

_What you said about Ron's wand makes a lot of sense, there's no reason to make a fake wand look old unless they deliberately want to look poorer than they are, and the only reason I can think of for doing that was if a lot of their income was illegally obtained. But even then most thieves aren't smart enough or are too confident in their ability not to be caught to go that far with hiding expenditures. It might explain what happened at Christmas though, insisting that they're poor and sending the children to school with all second hand supplies, encouraging them to complain and draw attention to the fact they can't have new things to hide the money and then being able to afford an expensive holiday to Romania. _

_Neville not having a new wand is more curious but you said he lives with his grandmother, the wand could've been one of his parents' and he wants to use it for sentimental reasons or the money could be tied up so only the head of house could access it and Neville won't be able to until he's an adult, or entailed into another branch of the family. I know that's very old fashioned and not done in the regular world these days but who knows what is still in practice in the wizarding world._

_But you know if Dean's muggleborn and Ron and Neville both have old family wands that only leaves you and Seamus as possibly having a fake wand in your dorm. So, it might be more rare than you hypothesised to have a fake wand. After all, nobody ever even hinted at you that it was done, you just decided after hearing that using a wand would stop accidental bursts of magic. What about the girls in Gryffindor, the only one you've really told me about is Hermione. I know you don't hang out with them because you think they're giggly and silly about the-boy-who- lived nonsense but are they purebloods? Are they good at magic? What about the students in the other houses, are any of them using an obviously old or second hand wand?_

_I think that it's possible that teenagers stop doing accidental magic because they bond to their wands and stop believing that they can because that's what everyone tells them will happen. It's also possibly that wands do make using magic so much easier that it does reduce the amount that a person's magic grows. After all you were using so much magic at first that you had to take a nap after using it and that wouldn't be practical at school. Remember that it took weeks to learn a single new use for your power and months for the power to build up again to the point it came out uncontrollably. Though needing time to nap or at least not do much of anything for hours would be a reasonable reason for why you apparently don't have time to learn English math chemistry biology physics geography politics history languages drama music art physical education and a heap of other things you should all be learning. _

_I wouldn't try to post me a disposable camera airmail. All airlines X-ray their packages and I think that would destroy the pictures. I think you could send it sea-mail though and write on it that it contains film. See if that would work._

_I'm glad you're spending time with other friends than Ron and Hermione, remember that just because you have no reason to think that your other friends have been influenced by whoever is keeping an eye on you before now it doesn't mean that they won't be in the future. If they suddenly start avoiding you don't be hurt until you've managed to calmly ask them what's going on. If the powers that be want you to be friends with Ron that badly, they might try to drive away the others if you seen to be closer to them or Ron starts to object too loudly. I don't want to stop you from trusting them but I also don't want you to take it personally if they are influenced into staying away from you. I guess there's a fine line between being able to spend enough time with them to develop a genuine friendship and keeping that friendship away from the attention of whoever's watching you so their memories aren't interfered with._

_Your friend always_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	74. Chapter 74

**Chapter 74**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_** Thursday 26/3/92**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**I may have done the right thing in your eyes in telling McGonagall and so far, I've got away with it. Ron and Hermione haven't found out and got angry with me for tattling, but unfortunately that's because she still hasn't done anything about it. The dragon egg was still in Hagrid's fireplace until it hatched the other night. Hagrid sent us a note that it was happening and we got to watch. It was an amazing experience, though hopefully it's truly once in a lifetime. It's a Norwegian Ridgeback and the baby dragon is somehow so ugly that it's kind of cute. Hagrid thinks it's wonderful and he's even more determined to keep it. He's calling himself its Mummy and getting up to feed it around the clock. I've enclosed some photos of it, Hermione told me that she used a disposable camera to take photos of Hogwarts and the library and sent them to her mum so I asked Dean's Mum to send me a disposable camera and sent her some money to have the photos developed and sent to you. I apologise if they're not any good, I've never used a camera before. If the photos work out then I'll get some more. Unfortunately, I didn't receive the camera until a couple of days after the dragon was born. The big man with the silly grin is Hagrid, though I'm sure you could have worked that out. The redhead is Ron, the thin blond is Seamus and the chubbier blond is Neville, Dean is the one with the black afro and Hermione is of course the only girl. The picture of the castle was taken from Hagrid's doorstep and from my broom over the lake so it's kind of the same as my first sight of the castle when we arrived by boat that first night.**_

_**The dragon has already doubled in size and started breathing fire, it has burnt half of Hagrid's beard off. I'm sure he must have some magical creature blood in him that his skin wasn't burnt and he still isn't taking the danger seriously. Surely McGonagall will believe us now or someone else will notice now and do something before he loses his house. I think that Malfoy followed us the day the dragon hatched and saw it through the gap in the curtain. Horrible little sneak. At least McGonagall already knows and I did try to tell her if he tries to get us in trouble and Malfoy will probably tell Snape. Hagrid always defends him when we say anything nasty so maybe they're friends as well, though it might just be because Dumbledore likes and trusts Snape. Hopefully Hagrid won't ever find out about it if Snape kills the dragon for potions ingredients. I think it would break his heart.**_

_**Hagrid is a little simple in his thinking and his unquestioning unshakable faith in Dumbledore makes me reluctant to trust him with my secrets no matter how much I like the man. But I don't know that his desire to own a dragon was lack of forethought or just plain life-long obsession with the idea. He told me about dragons and wanting one when we were in Gringotts the day he took me to buy my stuff for Hogwarts. He said he won the dragon egg in a poker game in Hogsmeade, the village near the school, but you're right I wouldn't have thought there'd be people walking around with dragon eggs in their pockets willing to gamble them away, and I wouldn't have picked Hagrid for much of a poker player, I'm sure he doesn't have the skill to count cards and he has real trouble lying or keeping secrets so I wouldn't have thought he'd be any good at bluffing. It does sound very suspicious unless the man won it in a game himself and wanted to lose it before he got caught with it. I'm getting paranoid and am having trouble deciding what truly is suspicious or whether I'm seeing suspicions that aren't really there. I can't think of a single reason for a stranger to suddenly want to give Hagrid a dragon's egg, especially if they are as rare and expensive as we think they are. Of course winning the egg made his entire year so if you wanted to distract him from a conversation you'd just had so he wouldn't repeat any of it to anyone this would be an ideal way if you could afford it. But what could the man have wanted to talk to Hagrid about so secretly, and with Hagrid's big booming voice a pub would be a very bad choice for a conversation you wanted kept secret, you could've overhear his side of the conversation from the other side of the street let alone everywhere in the pub. Besides Hagrid can't keep a secret on the best day, so you wouldn't need to bribe him with a dragon egg to tell you something and the spell to make people forget would be a better guarantee he's never going to mention what you talked about and save you a fortune as well. **_

_**I can't believe that Hermione with her insistence on following every letter of the rules is willing to keep this a secret. I felt sure she'd go to McGonagall for help once she realised how quickly the baby dragon was going to grow into a dangerous monster. Maybe because Hagrid is also an authority figure in her eyes even if he is only the groundskeeper and not a professor.**_

_**Ron was complaining about Percy and I remembered that one of his other brothers works on a dragon preserve somewhere in Europe. We've written to him for help. Hopefully he'll get back to us or McGonagall will do something before someone gets hurt.**_

_**I laughed when I read what you wrote about Ron's family trying to pretend to be poor to hide that they're thieves or con artists or something. You're right they seem to have more money at times than Ron's wardrobe and school supplies suggest, perhaps they're just that bad with money that they spend it all on impulsive purchases or one of them is a pretty decent gambler when they win they go on extravagant holidays and over the summer he was on a losing streak so there wasn't enough money for new wands and books. To be honest as long as they're not stealing from me or being paid to spy on me and hurt me, I don't really care where they're getting the money. But surely constantly crying poor then spending money on an expensive holiday draws more attention to their finances not covers them up.**_

_**Your friend always**_

_**Harry **_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	75. Chapter 75

**Chapter 75**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_Friday 4/3/92_

_Dear Harry_

_Has McGonagall done anything about the dragon yet? Or someone else found out and removed it from the school? Please tell me that someone's done something to protect the students even if it's just to give Hagrid a cage to keep it in and promise me that if nothing's been done that you're at least staying away from it and Hagrid's cabin so if it does get loose you have a chance of not being the student burnt to a crisp or eaten by a dragon!_

_I know you don't like Snape and you worry what will happen to it if he or one of the other professors you don't trust finds out about the dragon, but even having the baby dragon rendered for potions ingredients as horrific as it sounds would be better than the dragon having the chance to grow big enough to escape Hagrid and get into the school. We already know that whatever wards are on the school, they do not keep out the dangerous things they are supposed to keep out and I doubt they've been strengthened since the troll got in or you probably would have felt the difference just as you felt it when the wards around the Dursleys' house and neighbourhood were strengthened. _

_I share your suspicions of Hagrid winning the dragon egg, but I can't offer any other suggestions why it happened. The only harmless possibility I can think of is that someone was trying to pay Hagrid back for something good he'd done for them without letting him know who was indebted to him. Perhaps a Slytherin or someone Hagrid wouldn't have accepted the egg from as a gift. The problem with that idea is that while we have no proof of the cost of a dragon egg I think it would be very expensive and difficult to come by so not something someone would normally give as a gift unless Hagrid had saved their life of the life of their only child or something equally momentous, and I'm sure you would have heard about something like that. One other possibility is that the forgetting spell, obliviate, might not work reliably on Hagrid, so distracting him from the conversation was the only option short of killing him. You did say you were sure that he is not totally human the way he didn't get badly burnt by the dragon so maybe spells don't work the same way on him either. But of course, the expense of the egg makes that less likely too unless the secret they want kept is so important that revealing it would be life changing or life threatening in some way._

_Your gambler theory about the Weasley's made me laugh, it's possible of course but most gambling addicts wouldn't take their family on holiday with a small win, and it had to have been pretty small not to afford to take the boys left at school, they would keep gambling until the win had been lost. And if they did take a trip it would be a spur of the moment thing, not planned a week or more in advance. At least gambler's in Vegas would but perhaps they're addicted to gambling on something that doesn't happen that often, a wizarding sport perhaps. The problem with our world these days is that there's too much access to gambling be it cards, dice, horses, sports or slot machines all day and all night. There's no forced cooling off period after a big win or loss. But on a more serious note, could the money be related to whatever reason they have for Ron to insist that he's your best mate and his mother to send over the top gifts to a near stranger?_

_I haven't received the photos yet, Mrs Thomas probably sent the parcel sea mail, so I'll get it in a week or so. I'm glad you thought of sending her money and asking her to have the film developed and sending me actual photos so they won't be damaged. Did you get a set too? I hope you did. The only way to get better at taking photos is to see them afterwards so you can see what you did right or wrong and how to change what you're doing. It will be good to see what your friends actually look like and be able to put faces to who you write about, I have a bit of a picture of each of them in my head from your descriptions but I'm sure they're not very accurate. Did you send me a photo of yourself as well? I'd like to see how you've changed as you've grown up a bit since I saw you last._

_I know you think I don't like the things you're learning at school. It isn't that, they all sound very interesting and I'd like to read all your textbooks and would love to be able to visit and attend classes with you for a week or two. The real problem I have with the subjects you're learning at Hogwarts is that from your descriptions they're all more vaguely vocational training than proper education. They follow these instructions to practice this wand movement or to accustom your magic to do some particular action or follow directions to look after this plant or that recipe to produce that potion. Education is supposed to teach you how to learn, how to think for yourself, how to judge multiple sides of an argument or opinions on a topic and form your own opinion. None of your subjects even try to teach critical thinking or morals and ethics. All things that a lot of the stuff you learn at high school is supposed to teach. And with magic so easily reversed a lot of the time and healing so quick and painless there isn't really the same life opportunities to learn that actions have consequences, sometimes terrible consequences that you didn't really expect them to. Not to mention subjects like English where you examine the characters motivations for their actions teaches students to look into motivations behind their friends' and family's actions and form their own decisions and views on things. Not every student will learn the hidden lessons the curriculum is trying to teach but your classmates aren't even being given the opportunities to try to learn and grow into independent thinking adults._

_My subjects are getting more interesting this semester, of course a lot of the class are complaining that they've also got a lot more difficult but they still seem fairly easy to me. Mom is preparing to teach a new class, not in reality of course but she's spent most of the last few weeks reading books to set the curriculum and making new lesson plans and setting term paper topics. It's keeping her busy and alert and mostly in a normal sleep wake cycle and taking her medications so it's a good thing. Not to mention I will have some new lectures to listen to when I go home and she's having a bad day and thinks I'm one of her students. I wish she could still at least guest lecture but her good days aren't reliable enough to predict when she'd be able to attend class let alone stand up in front of everyone and present the right lecture coherently. Outside of class and looking after Mom I don't have a lot of news, there's not much free time this semester and what there is has mostly been spent with my house mates planning pranks. The house has been very careful this year to make sure the pranks are funny without anyone at risk of being hurt or singled out for humiliation which is great. We're not winning the prank war but I don't think that we're losing it either, there's still a way to go before everyone settles down and stops pranking in order to finish their papers and study for exams. The house is getting along fairly well, that is I get along with all but the most dedicated party goers, them I rarely see._

_Your friend always _

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	76. Chapter 76

**Chapter 76**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT **give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_** Monday 13/4/92**_

_**Dear Spencer **_

_**We got rid of the dragon. McGonagall and Snape still hadn't done anything but Ron's brother Charlie sent friends to collect it and deliver it to him at the Dragon Preserve in Romania where he works. Only problem was for some reason they insisted on collecting it from the top of the astronomy tower at midnight. If they were trying not to get caught then having us carry it out the front gate or meeting us down on the edge of the lake away from the castle makes far more sense, not to mention if they didn't tie the crate up properly it would only drop from a few inches from the grass instead of hundreds of feet onto a flagstone courtyard. Ron got bitten, by the dragon when he was trying to help Hagrid feed it, rest assured I've been staying away from Hagrid's since the dragon started biting everything that came close and breathing fire all the time. It might still be small but it's awfully bad tempered. He tried to patch it up himself but he had to go to the hospital wing when his hand turned green and started to smell, and he was stupid enough to lend the book with the letter from Charlie in it to Malfoy. Something that also makes no sense, why keep a letter in a library book and why on earth lend it to Malfoy, someone he never speaks to without starting an argument.  
Paranoia and conspiracy theories, here I go again. I'm so sick of not knowing who to trust. One thing I thought I could trust about Ron was his dislike for Malfoy and everyone in Slytherin. But then he goes and gives him the letter, he said it was an accident but how did Malfoy know to come to the infirmary and ask for the book in the first place, it's not like anyone would have expected Ron to have a particular library book even if it was needed for an assignment, much less have it with him in the hospital wing.**_

_**Anyway, Ron was safely in the hospital wing with the infected bite, so Hermione, wanted Neville and I to carry the bloody crate filled with a dragon to the top of the Astronomy tower where Charlie Weasley and his friends will take it away by broom. I told her that it was stupid that we carry something that big around the castle after curfew when there's no good reason that Hagrid couldn't carry it up there himself rather than have us risk getting detention or the dragon burning though the wooden crate and getting away from us, and I told her that if she didn't trust him to do it she should talk to McGonagall and get her to talk him into it because I don't think he'd listen to us. She's angry at me and insisted that we needed to go with Hagrid to make sure he did it and to provide moral support as he gave up his beloved pet. I refused to go and now she and Ron are both not talking to me.**_

_**Hermione dragged Neville out to help her carry the crate instead and got caught by McGonagall, Malfoy told her we were out of bed sneaking around the castle and now they have detention tomorrow night, something she's even madder about than me not taking the dragon up to the tower, because of course it's my fault she got caught. I guess it kind of is, if I hadn't refused it would've been me and Neville. I can't believe that McGonagall gave them detention for trying to get rid of the dragon. Afterall I asked for her help to do it a month ago and she didn't do anything, not that I can confront her about that without getting in trouble for knowing about the dragon as well. Ron's taken her side and is angry with me as well, not that I care that much, I'm glad to have time away from having to think about whether he can be trusted and constantly watch what I'm saying. I'm still being careful though. I remember your warning that whoever is interfering might change their targets if they notice I'm spending too much time with other people but it's just easier.**_

_**Anyway I've been hanging around with Dean and Seamus and I must say I've been enjoying the time with them. Seamus and I are getting on a lot better, it seems to be Ron he dislikes and I just get caught up in it because Ron's hanging about me most of the time. Neither of then like studying with Hermione either though they wouldn't mind hanging out with her away from homework if she wanted. Neville hangs out with us from time to time but seems to prefer to study with Hermione.**_

_**I've been trying to write the English essays for the books you sent me. It's forcing me to try to learn the things you wrote about last letter. The only problem is I can't give them to anyone here to mark them so I don't know if I'm on the right track or they're complete rubbish. I can see what you mean though, after trying to find a reason for a character's relationship to fail I started looking at my older housemates romances and I've started to notice what annoys the other person a bit and thought about why some of them will say something and others will just frown and try to ignore it. It doesn't always make sense to me why some relationships seem to last and others don't but I guess I don't see enough of how they work as a couple outside of the common room and dining hall. I don't want to seem like a stalker. Some relationships are easy to predict though. Oliver our quidditch captain has no trouble getting a date to Hogwarts but his dates all leave the castle looking giggly and pretty and come back looking happy but a few days later they drop him in frustration, he doesn't make any time for them other than to Hogsmeade, the rest of the time he's training or going to bed early so he can get up early and train. He needs a girlfriend as obsessed with quidditch as he is but none of the girls on the team are interested and he'd consider it a betrayal to even think about the girls on the other teams. Angelina dumps the boys before they get a chance to dump her, she's really pretty so there's always a new one a few days later no matter how badly she treats them. Ron's brother Percy never seems to have a girlfriend, he doesn't really seem to have friends either, he's always studying. One of the other boys a seventh year I think is dead gone on his girlfriend, they're always together, and I don't know how they get any study done staring in her eyes all the time, his friends tease him about it non stop. I can't really picture myself being silly over a girl like that but I suppose I'm too young, I certainly don't want to kiss or do things with any of the girls I know. Seamus' has got a magazine full of pictures of naked women it's not magical so the pictures don't move that goodness, it was embarrassing enough looking at them while they are still. I don't know how they could stand to be photographed like that.**_

_**Your friend always**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	77. Chapter 77

**Chapter 77**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_Wednesday 4/22/92_

_Dear Harry_

_All I could think when I got you letter was thank goodness the dragon is gone and Harry is safe. The first time I read it through nothing else mattered. Now I can take in some of your other points but in spite of the dragon biting Ron and the ridiculous pick up at the top of the astronomy tower and Ron and Hermione being angry at you. (what about Neville? Is he angry too? He has just as much reason to be). All I can say is that it's worth it. The school is safe from your point of view and from mine, you are safe._

_I'm proud of you for standing your ground and refusing to carry the dragon through the castle. It sucks that your friends are cross with you because you wanted to do the right thing, the safest thing. But don't be too upset about the fight they're having with you. Remember that you wanted Ron and Hermione to be angry with you, to give you an opportunity to see what happened, and find out whether they were influenced into forgiving you and trying to regain your friendship._

_I can't believe that Professor McGonagall knew about the dragon and still gave Hermione and Neville detention after Malfoy told her they were out after curfew smuggling a dragon out of the school. She had to have known he was telling the truth about the dragon and that it's presence in the school was an immense threat to the safety of all the students, as well as knowing who was really to blame for there being a dragon in the school in the first place. It's really off that she punished them instead of doing something about it herself. I hate to have to say it about a professor but you definitely can't trust her._

_I got your photos, the dragon doesn't look anything like I'd pictured him. I guess he's grown out of the so ugly he's cute phase because I didn't see anything cute in him though he is amazing. I suppose he is a boy or couldn't you tell. Looking at him I could understand Hagrid's fascination, but I have to say that I'm relieved he's gone, and a little relieved that he wasn't killed. I hope he arrives at the dragon reserve safely, a wooden crate hung between a few brooms doesn't seem like a sensible way to transport a dragon._

_Don't worry about your reaction to girls or to those pictures in the magazine, you're still very young yet, and your body is likely still slightly younger than your age still trying to heal from the years of malnutrition before you learned how to fend for yourself. I wasn't interested when I started high school either and I was almost eleven then. Even now it's not that important to me, I have too much else going on in my life to have time to worry about girls or a relationship. It will come when you're ready, before your mind and emotions are truly prepared for it most likely. And it is okay if it doesn't happen like that. What you honestly feel isn't ever wrong but I don't know what the wizarding society's views are, so maybe if it isn't girls you feel like that about, you should keep it to yourself until you know it will be accepted there. I'm making a total hash of giving you advice about this. I'm not suggesting that you might be gay there's no reason for me to think you are. I just want you to know that it if you are or not it will never make any difference to me, you are my best friend. But from everything you've told me wizarding society is very very old fashioned and it's only in the last twenty five years that homosexuality was decriminalised in non magical Britain, and it's still illegal in parts of America. It may not be something that is accepted in the wizarding world or it might be one of the things they accepted a lot earlier than non magical people, like their racism seems to be totally about how long your family has had magic and not the colour of your skin. But you already know that being famous, means that everyone you meet has expectations of what you'll be like, and I imagine this will be the same, even if it might be kind of accepted but not really spoken about there will be people who are upset about it whoever you choose to date be it a boy or a pureblood or a muggleborn. You can't live your life trying to please other people but you shouldn't invite trouble either._

_Ethan has a girlfriend so I'm getting some up close and personal experience in what it's like to be around a couple. Unfortunately, it seems that one of the things I'm learning is that I'm kicked out of the room for hours at a time so they can be alone so I see less of Ethan and more of the library and the study room in the house. She seems nice, and she's a physics major and not giggly and girly so I have no trouble talking to her about her studies or when she asks me about Ethan but she does like to tease me and try to embarrass me which seems to be humiliatingly easy for her to do. She makes me feel like I'm a twelve year old just starting college again and I don't like that. It makes Ethan laugh too, I want to think that he hasn't noticed how much I hate it. I don't think that the relationship will last that much longer though, I can already see signs that they're less attracted to each other than they used to be and get more easily annoyed with each other._

_It's not like I want a girlfriend, I'd be like your quidditch captain Oliver, I just don't have the time to give to a relationship, between my studies and going home almost every weekend to see Mom I can't see any girl putting up with me if I even knew any girls my age, and it's not like I'm lonely. I have you and Mom and Ethan and a few other friends when I do have spare time. It's just not nice to either be shut out or to always be the third wheel around Ethan and his girlfriend._

_If you want to send me the essays Harry, I can try to mark them, or I could find someone who teaches that grade to do it if you'd rather. It would be better for you to receive some feedback not only on content but on the way you structure essays as well. I'm so proud of you for even trying to do this on your own, even more than the reading and learning you used to do in the library before Hogwarts and I want to help you all that I can. But don't do it just for me Harry, do it if you want to. I don't want to be one more influence in your life trying to make demands on you and to change who you are. If you want to just concentrate on becoming the best wizard you can be I would understand._

_Your friend always _

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	78. Chapter 78

**Chapter 78**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Friday 1/5/92**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**Ron and Hermione still aren't talking to me which I find reassuring, at least I know nobody has messed with their memories and I'm actually enjoying their absence. It's nice to just be myself without having to think about how other people will react to me. I know I still need to watch for outside influences with them as well but it's nice to not be nagged about studying more or for studying and reading too much and being too boring all the time.**_

_**I'm feeling guilty about not trying to stand up for my friends though, or at least for Neville, Hermione isn't proving to be much of a friend at the moment. Neville and Hermione came back from detention pale and shaking as if they'd been severely traumatised. I had no idea that detention at Hogwarts could be like that. I talked to my quidditch team mates, Fred and George love to pull pranks and get a lot of detentions and they told me that it depends on who supervises the detention and it's not always the person who gave it. They said McGonagall either makes you clean out the cages of her transfiguration specimens or gives you an essay on what you did wrong, Filch has you cleaning out the trophy room or scrubbing suits of armour, Snape has you scrubbing out cauldrons or preparing the most disgusting potions ingredients for him. I could see why a couple of hours of dissecting small animals to harvest their hearts and other parts would upset them but they seem more frightened. I don't know who tool their detention and I can't get what happened out of Neville, and Hermione isn't likely to speak to me again anytime soon unless someone interferes with her memories.**_

_**Don't worry, I'm not feeling guilty that I didn't get involved with moving the dragon up to the astronomy tower but I feel I should have confronted McGonagall about punishing my friends for taking care of something she was asked to do something about and ignored. Now that I've seen the aftermath of the detention, I feel that I should've said something. I'm not about to run off and dob myself in though, I don't know that it will do any good to say something now.**_

_**So I told you Hermione and Ron haven't forgiven me yet. Surprisingly, Neville wasn't angry at me refusing to carry the crate up to the astronomy tower, he only wishes that he'd been there when I refused because that might have given him the strength to stand up to Hermione and refuse as well. He agrees with me that Hagrid should have had to take the crate up to meet the people picking it up, though he admits that if Hagrid had done it, he wouldn't have had a problem going with him to make sure he handed the dragon over. That would still have got them out of the detention because Hagrid would have been there to explain what happened. He still should have done that anyway, once Hermione told him about the detention of course, but I learned the first day I met him that Hagrid's not big on taking responsibility for his mistakes. Professor McGonagall should have checked with him about the story too before confirming the detention. And Neville just told me since I wrote the start of the letter, that Hagrid supervised their detention rather than speaking up and took them into the forbidden forest! They spent their detention looking for something that's killing unicorns. Something in that forest is doing unspeakable evil to kill a unicorn and they take eleven year olds out looking for it at night? Forcing first years who've only just begun to learn to defend themselves with their wands out in the forest that's so dangerous that even the senior students aren't allowed in it in the day time with Hagrid who's not supposed to use magic at all and doesn't even have an unbroken wand. That's what frightened them so much, they found the monster drinking blood from a dying unicorn and it nearly killed them. They were saved by a centaur.**_

_**Um.. what you wrote… I want you to know it won't make any difference to me either, you don't have to tell me whether you like girls or boys, it doesn't matter to me you'll always be my best friend too. Not that I'd mind if you did tell me but it won't make any difference to our friendship. You're right I just don't know yet. I don't want to do those sort of things with boys or girls, and I'm a bit curious about it but I don't really think I want to look at a magazine with boys or men in it like that any more than Seamus's one with the women. **_

_**Thanks for the warning though, I think you might be right about it not being acceptable in the wizarding world. Since I got your letter I've been observing the older students. I haven't seen any obvious couples that are two boys or two girls so I can't tell whether it's accepted here and I don't want to ask. But I'm not sure I'd notice if someone was a couple and not just best friends unless I saw them holding hands or caught them kissing or coming out of a broom closet, which seems to be the traditional place to make out with someone which doesn't make a lot of sense considering how many unused corridors and classrooms there are in the castle. And I can't exactly ask, one thing I have realised about this world is that sex is never actually talked about. They don't even use sex words to swear, it's all 'bloody' and 'Merlin' or 'Merlin's pants'. I heard one of the sixth year girls call someone a 'scarlet woman' behind their back the other day, and the older years brag about snogging girls but no mention of anything more than that.**_

_**I've sent you my essays, and I don't mind you reading them and telling me what you think but I think I would rather know what a real teacher thinks of them for a student my age as well. I enjoyed writing them, you're right that the Hogwarts curriculum is all rote learning and it does get boring after a while. Hermione doesn't seem to mind it but I've heard one of the Ravenclaws complaining about it. She's muggleborn too and is thinking about going to summer school to catch up with her regular grade and not coming back to Hogwarts. Her parents have money so she plans to hire a tutor to help her learn magic when she's caught up with her nonmagical subjects. I tried to approach her to see if she wanted to borrow my English books and maybe study together but she thought I was making fun of her. I apologised but she doesn't trust me. I'm not sure why.**_

_**Your friend always**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	79. Chapter 79

**Chapter 79**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT** give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_ Monday 5/11/92_

_Dear Harry,_

_If you're glad that Ron and Hermione aren't talking to you then they're not your friends, and you aren't their friend either. Ron has absolutely no reason to be mad at you about what happened, you shouldn't forgive him this time unless he apologises properly and you should let him know that he cannot keep doing that to you. The next time he flies of the handle about something stupid your friendship will be over. I take it they still don't know about the letter you wrote to McGonagall?_

_As for Hermione, you didn't force her to carry that crate around in the middle of the night. In fact you reminded her of the option of having Hagrid at least help her to move the crate. The fact she received a detention is in no way your fault and being there with them wouldn't have made any difference. If she calms down and apologises and you do forgive her, you should sit down and explain to her exactly why you like studying with Neville, Dean and Seamus more than you do with her, make sure she understands that it's not because she's top of the class in so many subject or because she works so hard it's her attitude to you and your work. Tell her that you want to be her friend but that she needs to start acting like a friend and not a paid tutor, or that she's ten times smarter than you are when she's not. Give her a real chance to modify her behaviour because it sounds like she just doesn't notice the effect her attitude has on people around her. I know you might think I favour Hermione over your other friends because I had a lot of the same problems at school that she's had, and you're probably right to an extent. But this is the first time she's deliberately turned on you, and you're prepared to give Ron another chance. I promise this is the last time I will ask you to give her a second chance. If you explain things plainly to her and she still doesn't change then at least you can drop the friendship with a clear conscience that you did all you could for her. If she can't change then perhaps she is being influenced by someone, but I have to say that while that means her behaviour might not be her fault, it's still not in your best interests to keep putting up with it. Not to mention that if she is being influenced because of your friendship then the kindest thing for her might be to avoid her, then whoever is mucking about with her personality might leave her alone. At least whoever is doing this won't be able to mess with your other friend's personalities the way they might have with Ron and Hermione because you already know them and would notice if they suddenly changed and started to try to stop you from studying or reading. I'm going to speculate that if Ron and Hermione are being influenced to do that and it fails then whoever is doing it might try to find someway to make you stop wanting to learn as much as you can. Hopefully the occlumency practice you've done will be enough to stop that from working but as a safeguard I'm also going to try to remind you of the possibility if your letters ever seem to indicate you're not working as hard as you are now._

_I read your essays and let me reassure you that I was impressed. But it isn't only me who thinks your essays are good. I read them before I gave them to one of the teachers at the local high school who promised to try to mark them for you. I think she regretted it when she saw how many there are but I told her there was no real rush on it, that you're not attending school or being officially home schooled just trying to learn on your own. I think she wanted to call the authorities because all children have the right to attend school and in fact all parents must send a child to school or be enrolled and assessed to home school under supervision from the department of education. I explained that you're in Scotland attending a school that teaches vocational subjects and stuff like herbal remedies but not reading and proper English education. I don't know if she bought it but she read through your work and agreed to mark a couple of essays each week starting with the most recent. I think she might have backed off because she thinks you're older than you are. So I'm sending back the one's she marked. She says to send anything you write after receiving these back, it will be more valuable for her to mark those than older stuff. You got really good marks for someone who hasn't attended any of the in-class discussions you'd normally have if you were taking the subject. I don't know why that girl wouldn't want to study with you unless it's something like Dean and Seamus, that she's not willing to study with Hermione or anyone who regularly works with her. Still it's her loss, I think having someone to study muggle things with would be good for both of you._

_After hearing about the detention in the forest I'm more glad than ever that you stood your ground and refused to break curfew to do something Hagrid should have done himself. You're right that he should have gone to McGonagall and told her the truth that Hermione and Neville were helping him, but also detention shouldn't be dangerous. Boring and tedious yes, to dissuade students from breaking the rules but it sounds like that detention was just as dangerous as being around the little dragon. I was hoping that now it's gone you'd be safe for the rest of your time at Hogwarts. Two potentially life-threatening creatures in the school should be impossible let alone in the same school year. It's beginning to sound like you were actually safer (from a risk of dying point of view) at the Dursleys, not that I want you to ever have to go back there either._

_Thanks for your reassurance that it won't matter to our friendship what my sexual orientation is or even if I tell you about it. Honestly I have nothing to tell you at the moment, I do get momentarily attracted to things, sometimes specific people and sometimes sensations, but I don't have the experience to form a clear pattern. Rest assured that I'm not crushing on you. What I feel for you is genuine friendship and caring. Because I'm almost totally surrounded by people older than I am I find that most of the people I find myself attracted to are in their early twenties. Needless to say I can't do anything about that attraction because none of them would look twice at a fourteen year old boy even if it wasn't illegal for them to do anything with a kid my age. Other than that it's not a big part of my life at the moment, I'm too busy to even think about it most of the time. My mind is fully engaged with my studies and worrying about Mom and you._

_Your friend always_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	80. Chapter 80

**Chapter 80**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_**Wednesday 20/5/92**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**Ron's started talking to me again, or I should say he did start talking to me again and my answer sent him off in another temper tantrum so I should have another week or so of peace on that front. He hasn't apologised, instead he stated that he'd forgiven me for not helping Hermione. I turned around and said that's all very well but that he needs to apologise for cutting me out of his friendship and all the nasty things he's said to me and about me before we can try to be friends again. He looked at me as if I was talking another language and turned and walked off. Since then he hasn't said anything to me but at least he isn't bad mouthing me in my hearing anymore. He's on his absolute last chance though, I'm not going to just forget about what he did and said unless he apologises properly and means it. I don't know whether he was manipulated into trying to resurrect our friendship or he was just lonely. Dean and Seamus rarely tolerate him hanging around with him for very long and he hates studying so he isn't spending a lot of time with Hermione.**_

_**Hermione did apologise and I have forgiven her for her previous bossiness. I don't think she was influenced into apologising. At least she believed she had a genuine reason to be angry with me. She still believed I should have helped her with the crate but she accepts that my help probably wouldn't have made a difference in getting caught. Apparently she feels that the older students have been pretty harsh on her and Neville losing so many house points that night. I hadn't noticed them shunning her any more than they normally ignore us firsties but she is upset about it. I asked Neville and he said he had confrontations with a few students who were angry about it the first couple of days it happened but since then things have been normal. I did what you suggested and told it too her straight why Dean and Seamus refuse to study with her and why I enjoy studying with them more than with her. She was pretty upset and accused me of being jealous of her brains and her marks. I told her I wasn't, that I was more than happy for her to work as hard as she pleased and to be the top in every subject if she could, but it was her attitude that she thinks I'm not capable of doing my own work or understanding the things she understands that annoys me. I admit I got a bit angry with her refusal to listen and told her that the problem wasn't her intelligence but her arrogance about it, and that I was surprised that her parents or teachers in her previous school hadn't told her that she needed to reign it in if she wanted to be liked because nobody wants to hang around with someone who clearly thinks everyone around them is an idiot, and that if she genuinely feels that way I don't understand why she wants to be friends with me at all. She ran off crying and I felt terrible about it but I don't want to apologise too quickly or she will ignore what I actually said.**_

_**Neville heard the whole conversation thank goodness since she went crying to him about how mean I was and he told her that he never would've been that blunt but he does agree with what I said and that she should be glad that someone had the courage to explain to her why she was driving people away from being her friend, and had given her the opportunity to try to change her attitude instead of just avoiding her. I was a bit shocked he stood up to her so bluntly but not as shocked as she was. She avoided both of us for a day or two then came and sat with us while we were studying but hasn't said much to us. She seems king of subdued which I hope she can get over soon without becoming bossy and arrogant again.**_

_**Dean and Seamus and I have become closer, Seamus asked me about why I was sending letters to Dean's mum and I explained that she sent them on to America for me because it was too far for Hedwig to travel and that my relatives would refuse to accept owl mail because they hate everything about the wizarding world. Seamus then asked what I was going to do for the summer since my relatives wouldn't want me back there. I told him I didn't know, that I didn't want to go home if I could find another place to stay and I wanted to try to ask someone if there's a way to stay at Hogwarts but none of the professors seem to want to listen to anything I have to say outside of classwork. I told them the whole story of Hagrid and the dragon and they were a bit miffed that they didn't get to see it, Seamus especially. They understood that with Ron there I couldn't invite them because they wouldn't have come unless I told them exactly what was going on and they calmed down and apologised though I didn't think they needed to, once I reminded them of the condition of Ron's hand where he'd been bitten and how the dragon burnt off Hagrid's beard and was growing so quickly that I was worried it would escape and kill someone. They agreed with me that it should never have been allowed to happen, and that if Hagrid was going to do such stupid things and surely if he'd been here for decades then the professors ought to have known that and kept a better eye on what he was up to.**_

_**I was really pleased with the essay your teacher friend marked for me, she gave me some new ways of looking at the stuff I'd written about and told me about some grammar rules I didn't know. I'm in the middle of writing a new essay on that book and hopefully I'll be able to finish it tonight and send it with this letter. I think it will be better than the other ones.**_

_**I hope your studies are going well, you must have exams soon. I hope that Ethan and his girlfriend kicking you out of your room isn't interfering with your work or your ability to get enough sleep.**_

_**Your friend always**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	81. Chapter 81

**Chapter 81**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

Harry had been trying to ignore his suspicions of the man with the dragon egg and the possibility of it being related to the cerebus standing on a trapdoor hidden in the third floor corridor. He reminded himself that he was an eleven year old boy and this was a school. It was his job to learn as much as he could not to go haring of on adventures better left to trained adult witches and wizards and whatever was going on was really none of his business.

This worked fairly well until Hermione also voiced the same suspicions and came to the conclusion that someone was trying to steal what had been hidden under the trap door. To Harry's surprise she even had an idea of what it might be having researched the idea since 'The Daily Prophet' had reported the break in and Harry had stupidly told her and Ron about Hagrid collecting a small package out of an otherwise empty vault that day.

"The Philosopher's Stone is a legendary substance with astonishing powers. It will turn any metal into pure gold and produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal," Hermione recited, sounding like she was reading from a textbook.

"That's something any thief would definitely want but what makes you think it would be here?" Harry asked.

"The only stone currently in existence belongs to Mr. Nicholas Flamel, the noted alchemist, who last year celebrated his 665th birthday! Dumbledore worked with Flamel on the twelve uses for Dragon's Blood. That's what was in the small package Hagrid picked up for Dumbledore while you were in the bank right before it was broken into, Harry," Hermione replied earnestly. "Snape's trying to steal it for Voldemort."

Neville jumped and shuddered at the name before asking Hermione not to say the name again.

"Why would you think it was him? Every thief on the planet would want to get their hands on it," Harry replied.

"I think that's who I met in the forest during detention with Hagrid. The thing that was drinking the unicorn blood. Firenze the Centaur that helped me and Neville hinted strongly at it," Hermione said.

"And you're only telling us this now!" Harry exclaimed. "Did you try to tell a professor?"

"I told Hagrid," Hermione replied.

"I mean a real professor," Harry said dryly. "Voldemort killed hundreds of witches and wizards, don't you think that the professors should know he's here, for that matter the wizarding police and army or whatever should've been told so they could properly search the forest and kill him."

"If it was important Hagrid would've told Dumbledore," Hermione said.

"Yeah, because Hagrid has a reputation for telling people when he's in over his head, especially when he's done something wrong like taking eleven year olds into the forest to meet Voldemort," Harry retorted sarcastically.

"We need to protect the stone," Neville insisted nervously.

This time Harry didn't hesitate or try to hide his refusal to run off on an adventure. "This is too dangerous for a group of first years, we need to go to the professors," he insisted.

"Who then? Do you even know where Dumbledore's office is?" Neville asked.

"It's protected by a password, I think we should try Professor Flitwick or Sprout, they're more likely to listen to us," Harry replied.

"Professor McGonagall is our head of house. We should go to her," Hermione said decisively, pleased that she wasn't the only one who thought they should go to the professors to sort out the problem, grabbing their hands and dragging them along.

Ron saw them as they made their way to the office and suspecting an adventure in the offering, joined them. Hermione quickly explained what was going on.

"We have to see Professor Dumbledore, immediately!" Ron declared bursting into the deputy headmistress's office without knocking.

Harry cringed; he was fairly sure McGonagall would've refused to listen to them or somehow refused to or been prevented from taking their concerns seriously anyway, but Ron's lack of common courtesy now made it even less likely and he wouldn't even find out if she'd been magically influenced to refuse now she had a legitimate reason to throw them out.

McGonagall looked up frowning, "I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore is not here. He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and left immediately for London."

"He's gone?! Now? But this is important! It's about...the Philosopher's Stone," Harry said whispering the last two words.

"How do you know about that," Minerva said sounding shocked and angry.

"Someone's going to try and steal it!" Ron said. Harry was grateful that at least Ron had the common sense not to accuse Snape of trying to steal the stone, though he and Neville were both sure that it was the potions master.

"I don't know how you three found out about the stone, but I can assure you it is perfectly well-protected. Now would you go back to your dormitories? Quietly," Minerva said dismissively.

"But Professor, we know about the protections and someone was asking Hagrid about Fluffy, they bribed him with the dragon egg and he told them how to put it to sleep," Hermione said desperately.

Minerva frowned but continued to try to shoo them out of her office. Hermione continued trying to explain but it was clear to Harry that the head of Gryffindor wasn't listening to her.

"Stop Hermione, it won't do any good. She won't listen to us any more than she listened when I told her about Hagrid having a dragon egg," Harry said flatly.

"You told McGonagall about the dragon?" Ron started yelling.

"Shut up Ron. Yes, I wrote to her anonymously, actually, I was trying to do the right thing and help Hagrid and keep the school safe. Dragons are class XXXXX dangerous beasts, they have no place in a school full of curious kids. I thought she was friends with Hagrid and would be willing to keep him from getting in trouble but still get rid of the dragon before anyone got hurt, and she did exactly what she's planning to do now. Absolutely bloody nothing, and leave it up to us sort things out, then punish us for doing it like she did Hermione and Neville last time when they got caught after handing the dragon over to Charlie's friends. Well I for one have had enough," Harry said turning away from his self-appointed 'best mate' and towards his transfiguration professor. "If you can't be bothered to get off your arse to save the school and the philosopher's stone from Voldemort, I don't see why I should be either. I'm going to pack my trunk. Hopefully when the shit hits the fan at least some of us will be able to get away."

"Fifty points from Gryffindor for your language Potter," Minerva said crisply.

"You know at the start of the year when you said your house would be like your family, I didn't think you meant it would be like the Dursleys. Happy to punish me for every slight transgression without ever listening to me or giving a damn about my welfare," Harry said disappointedly.

"Potter, I never received that letter," Minerva said troubled.

"Or you received it and someone made you forget about it, like they made the police in Little Whinging forget when I went to them for help. That doesn't change the fact that we're genuinely worried about the safety of the Philosopher's Stone and you're not even prepared to listen to our concerns," Harry replied, not sure if he even believed that McGonagall didn't remember receiving the letter.

"Sit down and tell me exactly why you are so concerned about the stone. I don't even want to know how you figured out it was hidden in the school," Minerva said tiredly.

"I was with Hagrid when he collected it from Gringotts," Harry replied.

"Hagrid accidentally told me that what was hidden in the school had something to do with Nicholas Flamel," Hermione said.

The professor shook her head disappointedly. "I don't want to know."

"Hagrid won a dragon egg of a stranger in the pub, he can't describe them they had their hood up the whole time and probably a concealment charm. The stranger asked him about Fluffy and Hagrid admits to telling them that music will put the Cerebus to sleep, we know someone tried to break into the third floor when the troll was let in on Halloween, and the Centaur told Hermione that Voldemort is in the forbidden forest drinking the unicorn blood, Dumbledore being out of the castle is a perfect opportunity for someone looking to steal the stone," Harry said succinctly.

Minerva sighed, when put like that they were possibly right, the stone was at risk. She was about to agree to check it when stopped by a compulsion charm to leave the whole situation alone.

"Go to your common room or go outside and enjoy the sunshine. Dumbledore will return soon and I will tell him of your concerns," she replied.

Harry having seen the sudden fogginess in her eyes realised she'd been magically influenced. He wasn't convinced she'd do anything but he hoped it would at least convince Hermione and Neville because there was nothing else they could say to change things and the other professors had almost certainly been spelled the same way. "Thank you for trying," he said before standing and leaving. The other's followed, surprised when Harry did indeed return to the dorm and start packing.

"What are you doing?" Hermione demanded.

"Not leaving my packing to the last minute," Harry replied drolly.

"You think we're still in danger, that Professor McGonagall isn't going to protect the stone?" Hermione asked suspiciously.

"Or that she'll try, and fail. Voldemort wasn't the most feared dark lord in centuries because he could be beaten, Hermione," Harry replied.

Hermione frowned caught between wanting to defend her favourite professor and worrying about Harry being right.

"I can't believe you wrote to a professor and told them about the dragon. Do you know how much trouble you could have gotten Hagrid into?" Ron demanded.

"Obviously he didn't really write to Professor McGonagall at all. I can't believe you tried to lie to her fact about it," Hermione snapped.

"Don't call me a liar! I wrote to her. I don't know why she doesn't remember getting the letter," Harry snapped.

"You could have got Hagrid arrested," Ron yelled.

"If you knew how much trouble Hagrid would get into having a dragon then why on earth would you risk being caught carrying it up to the Astronomy tower? Oh wait, you didn't, you were safely in the infirmary after giving Malfoy the letter to make sure we'd be caught. Neville and Hermione could have been arrested because of you," Harry turned on the redhead who had claimed to be his best mate most of the time and refused to talk to him the rest of the time. He still hadn't apologised or his treatment of Harry after the night the dragon was sent to Romania but he sometimes tried to hang around when Harry was with others, mostly Hermione and Neville because he knew the two of them wouldn't send him away. Harry tolerated him so long as he didn't get up in his business about things.

"Do you think that McGonagall's going to do something about Snape?" Neville asked.

Harry didn't reply. He was sure she'd been spelled not to interfere and he didn't want to get caught up in trying to save the stone if the others decided to try to play hero, and he wasn't convinced that Snape was the villain.

"Of course, she will," Hermione said confidently.

"Shouldn't we go and make sure," Neville asked doubtfully.

"No Neville, we should leave it to the fully trained staff. Whoever is trying to steal the stone isn't going to be stopped by first year spells," Harry said calmly.

Unfortunately, at dinner all the staff except Dumbledore were present and seemed to be calmly talking socially. There was no sign of them planning to defend the stone as Ron and Hermione insisted on following them up until they disappeared into the passageway leading to the staff quarters where no student could pass the wards.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	82. Chapter 82

**Chapter 82**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

"We need to go and save the stone," Hermione insisted.

"What can we do, we're first years, Hermione and whoever's trying to steal the stone isn't going to be throwing impedimenta jinxes," Harry replied.

"You're a coward!" Ron exclaimed.

"Says the boy who can't even say Voldemort's name, what do you think you're going to do when you meet him? Piss yourself in fear and drown him in your urine," Harry retorted.

"We have to do something," Hermione said.

"Okay, if you don't believe McGonagall's going to do anything you should try to talk to Flitwick or Sprout, they have a better reputation for listening to their students anyway," Harry said reasonably. He thought Flitwick was the best option, he suspected that the tiny man wasn't entirely human and hopefully that might mean the spells wouldn't have such a strong influence over him.

"He's in his private quarters, we can't talk to him," Ron said impatiently.

"There must be a way to summon him if his house needs him, we need to ask one of the Ravenclaws," Harry replied.

Unfortunately, when they found Flitwick Harry could see that the results were no better than with their own head of house. He listened to them more willingly and Harry could see him planning to help before his eyes went foggy and he dismissed them. And even more problematically, this time Hermione noticed.

"What was that? Something's wrong with Professor Flitwick," she said anxiously as Harry hurriedly ushered her out of the charm's professor's office.

"They've been spelled not to interfere with the protections on the stone, Harry reported sighing.

"You mean that they can't stop Snape from stealing it? How did Dumbledore fail to notice they've been attacked like that?" Ron asked.

"It must have been done since Professor Dumbledore left this afternoon. Is there anyone who can help that he wouldn't have spelled?" Hermione said.

"They can't help us?" Neville said.

"Is there a form of magical law enforcement we could contact?" Harry asked.

"There is but an owl isn't going to get help here in time," Neville replied shakily.

"Isn't there a quicker way? Surely, witches and wizards have some way of calling for help in an emergency?" Harry asked.

"At home I'd use the floo but I don't know which fireplaces are connected, or where to find floo powder, or Gran would use a messenger spell but it's beyond seventh year, she told me Dad taught her when he learned it in Auror training," Neville said.

"Well that doesn't help," Hermione huffed. Neville looked down at his feet and his whole demeanor seemed to fall.

"Thanks for the information though Nev, it's good to know a bit more about this world. I would expect the professors all have floos and floo powder," Harry said determinedly cheerful.

"How's that help? They won't let us use it," Hermione scoffed.

"Dumbledore's not here, his office will be empty, we just need to convince his door guardian to let us in or guess the password. He uses sweet names so it shouldn't be too hard," Harry said.

"We can't break into the headmaster's office," Hermione exclaimed aghast.

"Why not. It will be a damn sight safer than trying to battle Voldemort," Harry retorted leading the way to the Gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office and living quarters.

Luckily Neville and Ron were both sweet-tooths because Harry and Hermione didn't know much about wizarding sweets but the two boys were able to list every sweet on the market in the last couple of years no matter how rare.

Fawkes looked at them searchingly as they entered the office and Harry went over and explained to him what they were doing. In response he landed on the mantle shelf and pecked at a jar, indicating where the floo powder was stored obviously approving. There was no fire but the kindling had been laid to start one and Hermione looked anxiously for the matches before Harry chuckled and cast incendio. Unfortunately, what they couldn't guess and Fawkes couldn't tell them was the password for the floo.

"What do we do now. We've got to stop wasting time and go and protect the stone before it's too late," Hermione said hurrying out of the headmaster's office and to the forbidden corridor. Ron followed eagerly but Harry grabbed Neville and tried to hold him back. Neville knew that Harry was probably right about the amount of danger they'd face, none of them were ready to take on an adult wizard, not even four to one, but he still loyally insisted on accompanying Ron and Hermione. Harry hesitated but decided as impossible as it would be for the four of them to succeed, they stood a much better chance of all surviving if Harry went with them. He quickly resized his trunk in an alcove and grabbed his real wand out, replacing it with the fake one and reshrinking the trunk and putting it into his pocket before running after Neville.

Harry snorts in derision at the simple alohomora charm Hermione used to open the door. "Shouldn't this at least have a password to keep curious students out?"

There was music playing, barely audible over the sound of the three heads snoring. "Someone's beaten us here. We have to hurry," Hermione said.

"We're too late, we should get out of here before we all get killed," Harry retorted. Unfortunately it didn't do any good. They made it through the first couple of traps unscathed, Harry complaining the whole time how easy they were, and how ridiculous it was to hide something like this. Ron was knocked out in the giant chess game and Harry made another attempt to convince them to go back. He did manage to convince Neville to go for help as long as he promised to stay with Hermione and do everything in his power to help her prevent the stone from being stolen. Breathing a sigh of relief that at least Neville was safe so long as Voldemort didn't try to destroy the school on his way out he pushed ahead, leaving Hermione in behind in the potions room though he was sure if she put the bottle back on the shelf it would refill for her.

Quirrell managed to disarm him as soon as he got through the door and stopped shocked at the sight of the purple turbaned wizard looking into the mirror of Erised and talking to himself in two different voices without any sign of a stutter.

Quirrell forced Harry to look into the mirror and Harry thinking desperately that he really wished Spencer was here to outsmart the professor saw him in the mirror dropping a stone into Harry's pocket as he felt the extra weight. 'No get it out. I don't want it. Don't let Voldemort have it,' he begged the image desperately before beginning to lie about what he saw.

Voldemort in the back of Quirrell's head seemed to realise something had happened and Quirrell grabbed Harry's hands. It seemed to hurt him to touch Harry and Harry concentrated on making that hurt as strong as possible until Quirrell's hand began to blister and fall to dust. Quirrell went for his wand and recognising that this was a life or death situation Harry knew he couldn't let the man cast a spell at him. He launched himself at the older wizard aiming to cover his mouth forcing his magic into his hands to destroy the possessed professor.

Professor Quirrell died screaming in agony and a black mist rose from him and coalesced into the face that had been on the back of his head. Harry reached for it and tried to destroy it as well but it didn't have any effect. The black cloud threw itself into Harry's chest but couldn't possess him and fled through the wall. Harry slumped on the floor exhausted and realised Dumbledore was there as he lost consciousness. His last thought was to wonder how long the headmaster had been there and why he hadn't stepped in to help him, or to stop the black cloud thing from escaping.

_**Saturday 20/6/19**_

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**Something terrible happened and it's partly my fault. I know you told me to stay out of whatever Quirrell and Snape were up to but once I found out exactly what was going on I decided that it was worth the risk. We did try to go to a professor and get help but Professor McGonagall refused to listen to us, and then we tried to keep watch to try to prevent it before it started but Snape kicked us out and he wouldn't listen either. I did what you wanted and tried to trust them Spencer, but they're just like the teachers at primary school, they refused to hear me. They left me to be responsible for saving the school and keeping the other students safe Spence. How can I trust them after this?**_

_**Voldemort, the Dark Lord (extremely evil wizard and terrorist group leader who killed my parents) didn't completely die when he tried to kill me. He's been trying to come back and he was attempting to use the Philosopher's Stone to do it. The Stone was hidden in Hogwarts and Ron, Hermione worked it out and went after the thief. I told them I wasn't going to help, in fact I threw quite a tantrum in McGonagall's office and told McGonagall off about not doing anything about the dragon in front of Ron and Hermione. Anyway, they decided to go without me and I would probably have let them if they didn't drag Neville along with them. Something stopped me from letting Neville be hurt like that. Perhaps it's the echo of our family oaths to each other. The Potters and the Longbottoms have been allied for many generations and stood together in every battle they've been in for hundreds of years. Anyway I felt that I had to go and try to protect him.**_

_**It turned out to be Professor Quirrell and he had Voldemort's face in the back of his skull, he'd willingly allowed himself to be possessed by him, which is what that whole silly smelly purple turban full of garlic was hiding . Anyway, I stopped him from stealing the stone but in the fight I killed him, Professor Quirrell I mean, Voldemort came out and escaped. When he tried to strangle me his non-wand-hand turned to ash, Dumbledore said it was because of the protection in my body from my Mum sacrificing her life for me but I didn't know why at the time. He was going to curse me to death so I put my hands on his face and he turned completely to ash and died. Or that's how Dumbledore described it anyway. Dumbledore is acting like he he believes I killed Quirrell like that by accident, that I was so desperate to get away from him that I didn't realise what was doing, but I did. I knew in that moment that putting my hands on his face or neck would kill him and I knew that if I didn't kill him first then he'd kill me. It was self defence but I had time to think this and I deliberately chose to kill him to save myself. I just didn't see any other way that I could live. Don't hate me Spencer, I didn't want to die.**_

_**I'm fine, physically. Healer Pomfrey fixed me right up but I'm not sure how to handle knowing that I killed a man. Dumbledore said he was dying anyway from the possession, and that he couldn't be saved, but it's still my fault that he's dead. And perhaps the worst of it is that Voldemort's spirit, got away. He's not a ghost, well not a magical ghost anyway, more like books and movies depict an evil spirit, I don't know how you'd describe it, all black and smoky and with a face but no body. So he will try to come back again. He will come after me again too but Dumbledore won't tell me why. He says I'm not old enough to know and I should enjoy my childhood. Enjoy my childhood he said and then he turned around and told me I had to spend the summer locked up with the Dursleys being starved, overworked and abused again! I don't know how much of what he tells me I can believe. Surely as the Headmaster of a school for years and years of being a teacher before that along with the other titles he has he can't be that stupidly naïve to think that all families love each other and he'd lose his positions if he were going senile so he must be trying to manipulate me for some reason. Problem is, I can't work out why. I wish you were here to see the whole thing. I bet you could tell me what's really going on. Ron's family all love the headmaster, he's grown up believing the man practically walks on water and Hermione virtually worships all the professors, it almost physically hurt her to have to admit one of them was evil and really did attempt to murder me. They won't even listen to any doubts I have about Dumbledore. Seamus and Dean aren't so blinded but neither of them have ever even spoken to him so they're just taking their opinions from mine and his general reputation. Neville hasn't said what he thinks but says that his gran trusts him but he hasn't spoken to him all year either. Which makes the amount of interest he takes in me and the fact that both Ron and Hermione seem to have spoken to him before all this happened even more suspicious.**_

_**I think I've confirmed the reason why I had such a strong aversion to leaving the Dursleys once I returned to England and probably why they never kicked me out here as they did when we were in Vegas. Headmaster Dumbledore says there are wards on their house to protect me from the magical terrorist group that killed my parents. I did what you suggested. I asked him if I had to go back to the Dursleys, asked him if I could stay at Hogwarts or to find me somewhere else to stay because they don't want me back and I'm mistreated there. He didn't believe me and refused to even listen. Said I must be exaggerating and that I still need to be there to recharge the wards to keep me safe. He insisted that all children railed against the rules their families put in place to ensure their safety and he was sure if I'd argued with my family before coming to school it will all have been forgotten by the time I went home. He promised me that if the wards strengthened enough over the summer I might be able to spend the last week or two with the Weasleys. I'd never mentioned wanting to go to the Weasleys specifically, just anywhere I wouldn't be mistreated, almost any of my other friends would be preferable.**_

_**I think that this is confirmation that Dumbledore was involved in healing me, wiping everyone's memories and sending me back to the Dursleys last year. He knows what the wards do, so he had something to do with putting them there and he's trying to force me to go back to Privet Drive just like the witch or wizard last year.**_

_**I'm wondering if the wards are using my magic to recharge them then that might be why my magic feels weaker and I have less outbursts when I'm at Privet Drive? I hoped when I spoke to the goblins about them that they would fall with me being away at school all summer but Dumbledore doesn't think they have. Maybe that's why they were reworked to take more of my magic from them the year before I came here so they could be strong enough to store it over the school year. It looks like I might have to pay the goblins to have them changed so they don't feed on me. A home is supposed to be somewhere people care for you and feed you, not a place where you are fed upon. I wonder whether Dumbledore would notice if I had the wards changed, or whether he will notice that I'm not there most of the summer.**_

_**I didn't tell him that Dean, whose mother forwards our letters, has invited me to stay the first couple of weeks and I've already accepted and then we're going to stay with his best mate Seamus in Ireland for a month. Ron has also promised to invite me for the last two weeks of the holidays so I'll only be at the Dursleys for two weeks, hopefully the wards won't influence me into deciding to stay longer than that. Hermione also offered to ask her parents if I could visit, but once she heard that Ron's mum had to wait for Dumbledore's permission for me to leave the Dursleys she said it might be better if I didn't. She must have lived a very sheltered life because she has an overexaggerated respect for all authority figures. Hermione's parents only live about an hour away from Little Whinging so maybe I'll try to get there for the day while I'm at the Dursleys. I wish that I could come and visit you in the hideout this summer but even if I could afford it my passport is at the Dursleys and I don't think the airlines would let an eleven year old just walk up and buy a ticket. I'll try to collect the passport when I'm there and maybe ask Mrs Thomas to help me make arrangements for next summer since I can't depend on my friends' parents here to let me stay every year.**_

_**One other thing I find odd though, Dean was really embarrassed and apologetic when he invited me because he had to explain that his parents were delighted he had friends to invite home but couldn't afford to have me or Seamus unless we helped out a bit with the extra food costs. Seamus and I understood and were happy to pay. The Thomas's aren't wealthy and having Dean at boarding school puts a huge strain on them which he mentioned briefly and gratefully when we were first talking about our families saying goodbye on the train the first night but not since. I'd never noticed it before but Dean's clothes are all quite worn, I think they might be second hand but he's never complained about them or about not having enough money. It's Ron who complains constantly how poor his family is and about hand me down robes and books, but they sent seven children to boarding school and his mother invited me to stay with them without asking for money to help out. Ron's always complaining about his brothers and sisters too but I never even would've known Dean had so many except for the photo of his family beside his bed and the letters he gets from them that make him laugh. He doesn't speak of his family often and I've never heard him complain about them.**_

_**Your friend always**_

_**Harry**_

A/N: Spencer did of course write back between the last letter Harry sent and this one, in fact Harry would also have sent another letter and Spencer wrote back to that one as well, I just haven't written them.

A/N2: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	83. Chapter 83

**Chapter 83**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_Tuesday 6/25/92_

_Dear Harry, _

_I'm more sorry than words can convey that you had to choose to kill Quirrell or be killed by him, you never should have been in that situation. It was criminally irresponsible for Dumbledore and the professors to hide the stone in a school full of children, and once they did then protecting the students from the stone and the people who would want to steal it became a job for the staff. but I am so glad that you're the one that survived. Do not feel bad about what you had to do to get yourself out of there alive. You didn't have a choice and I don't blame you for doing everything you could to survive. You tried everything you could have done not to let the others go looking for trouble, and then when that failed you went with them to keep them safe. Remember that. You succeeded, Neville, Hermione and Ron all escaped, they weren't even seriously hurt, though I have to admit that I personally wouldn't really care if they were hurt so long as you were okay. They rushed into danger and you were the one who paid the price for their refusal to listen to you and see sense. The only reason that I'm not wishing that they were hurt instead of you is that I believe the guilt of that would hurt you more than your current injuries which is honestly a bit silly, it wouldn't have been your fault if they were hurt, it wasn't your responsibility to keep them safe. You are a child too!_

_What I cannot understand was the way the professors both refused to listen to you. You had clear evidence that the stone was under threat and that someone had paid a large amount of money to find out how to get passed the three headed dog, the first of the traps protecting the stone. They should have taken that seriously even if they didn't want to admit it to you. They are responsible for your safety while you're at school. The fact that they failed you so badly makes me fear for your remaining years there. _

_I wish I could do something. I wish you could come to Caltech with me but that is impossible, but there must be other schools of witchcraft and wizardry, they can't all be so ridiculously dangerous. Perhaps you should ask Mr Blott if you get to Diagon Alley over the summer, he was very helpful last year and he'd probably stock books for all the schools so he'd know what else was available._

_According to the summer schedule you sent me you should be at Dean's when you get this as long as nobody interfered with your plans. I hope that you got away cleanly and are with your friends. As you could see from the envelopes, I sent the letter to Mrs Thomas in a way that you would get it even if you were at the Dursleys so long as you're able to visit the restaurant. Though I also assume you would've written and told me as soon as you knew if you were going back to the Dursleys._

_I'm glad that you've got such great friends to invite you to stay and I hope you're enjoying your summer. I guess with all the visiting everywhere you decided against going to summer school to keep up with your non magical subjects. Still I suppose being away from your relatives and somewhere you will be fed properly and treated decently is more important anyway so I don't blame you._

_We're both having the summer off our studies. I am returning home for the summer, my Aunt informed me she has booked herself and her husband on a European holiday tour for the entire months of July and August and Mom's best friend has surgery scheduled so I need to come home and look after Mom. I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with Mom and I'm hoping that having me at home will help her take her medication a little more regularly and maybe eat a little better, but I must admit that I'm disappointed not to be able to participate in any of the summer programs but as they pointed out most of the programs will be available again next summer. _

_I finished my first degree in Chemistry this semester and have to decide whether I go on to get a masters in Chemistry now or whether to finish my degree in Mathematics next semester and go on to get a masters in that. I find both subjects riveting, I wish that I could do both. One of my friends in the mathematics stream is moving across to major in engineering which also sounds fascinating, maybe I will audit some courses next year if I get time._

_One thing struck me when you told me about your conversation with Dumbledore about the wards at the Dursleys. He specifically mentioned you being allowed to go to the Weasleys at the end of the summer. He didn't say you could visit a friend of your own choosing, and he knew which two weeks the Weasleys have invited you to stay. If that's true it tells me that there are two possibilities, either Dumbledore wants you to be friends with Ron for some reason which means he could be the one mucking around with Ron's memories to maintain the friendship, in which case you cannot trust that he is not influencing the Weasleys to try to lead you in a certain direction we cannot predict yet, or that Mrs Weasley wrote to Dumbledore asking for permission to invite you to stay meaning she knows that Dumbledore is in control of what you are and aren't allowed to do away from Hogwarts and is on good terms with him (or wants to be) meaning you can't trust Mrs Weasley and she might be the one forcing Ron to ignore or overlook your arguments (is it possible to do that with magic via a letter?) I don't know about the rest of the family. If you do go there this summer, and I agree it would probably be better for you that two weeks at the Dursleys then please be careful._

_Does Dean or Seamus have a computer. If he does this is my email address __ and we could message almost immediately if we arrange a time to both be online. I'm sure they'd help you set up your own address and show you how to access it from a different computer so we can be in contact most of the summer. _

_Your friend always_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	84. Chapter 84

**Chapter 84**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

To: Spencer Reid email

From: Harry Potter

Monday 29/6/92 11:35

_**Dear Spencer **_

_**Staying with Dean is a lot of fun, they live in an apartment so it is pretty crowded in Dean's small room for me and Seamus. His Mum is as nice as her letters made her sound and his stepdad accepts Dean as part of the family as much as his sisters. Meeting them made me even more glad that the Dursleys didn't have more children, they're good kids but they follow Dean around everywhere and he looks after them a lot while his parents are working. They're jealous of me and Seamus and can get annoying after a while but I'm trying to be patient with them. I know they missed Dean a lot while he was away at school and it's kind of sweet that they want his attention now even if it is a bit annoying.**_

_**When Dean's not babysitting, we spend a lot of time outside in the park and the mall. Dean's a popular guy, he has a lot of friends that were glad to see him back home for the summer and it has been nice to meet them and to have the freedom to hang out in the arcade playing games without being bullied. It's strange, after a year at the castle I find electric lights too harsh and artificial and the constant sounds of traffic and the TV and radio are loud and annoying. **_

_**Dean and Seamus though are great, they understood when I wanted some time to myself without asking a million questions like Hermione or dragging me away to play chess like Ron would. **_

_**And Dean helped me and Seamus both set up email accounts. I think he knows I wanted it to talk to you but he didn't ask, just set up the accounts and he and Dean went to help his mum make lunch so I could write my emails in private, they said it's my turn to help with the dishes. Maybe they wanted privacy from me as well. I don't mind that, they are best friends after all and it was good of them to include me in their summer holidays.**_

_**Neither Ron nor Hermione know that I'm here and I hope I can keep it that way. I can't trust either of them not to tell someone, Hermione because she believes in following orders and she knows that I was told to stay at the Dursleys and Ron because he tends to blurt out secrets when he loses his temper, and I think he'd be jealous that I was spending time with someone other than him though I don't know why. It isn't as if he doesn't have reason to know I don't like him and I honestly don't think he really likes me or Hermione much either most of the time.**_

_**Dean's mum has insisted that we spend at least an hour a day completing our summer homework before we leave the house, at this rate we will be finished by the time we go to Seamus' place. It's interesting to study with Dean and Seamus, and I get a lot done, but it doesn't feel like we're working hard. Once we finish our essays we pass them around and read each other's and make suggestions to improve them. It's nice to be able to help and be helped at the same time rather than being lectured to. Dean and Seamus tend to make suggestions and corrections on a separate piece of paper so we don't have to rewrite the essays unless we want to. I think they've noticed that I'm not because the last essay they read had a lot of joke suggestions for it. I don't mean to sound so negative and I am grateful for Hermione's help and she has become a little less condescending when she tries to help us since becoming our friend but she makes me feel stupid in a way you never did though I'm sure she's nowhere near as brilliant as you are. And Ron just tries not to study at all until the very last minute and then whines for Hermione to do the work for him. They've had some arguments about it but she ends up doing most of it. And then she resents it, problem is that it seems that she resents me too when I never even asked her to look over and correct my essays, and she does it with ink on the actual essay so even if I didn't want to make the changes she demands I'd have to write it out again. I would like to study with Seamus and Dean more next year but they refuse to study with Hermione and it would hurt her if I studied with them all the time instead and she did get a lot better once we had that talk after she got over her huff about me refusing to help move that baby dragon. Outside of lessons, Mrs Thomas is a lovely lady even though she's often tired from working she's always interested to hear her children talk to her about their day or their thoughts and stuff.**_

_**I guess I forgot to tell you some stuff about what happened the night Professor Quirrell went after the stone. I told you that we tried to tell Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick. We went to McGonagall first and when she refused to listen to us, I lost my temper a bit and told her off about not ever doing anything to help us and then punishing us for trying to sort problems out on our own. I mentioned the letter I sent her and she said she never received it. I don't know whether someone intercepted it or she was made to forget it, anyway she listened after that and was getting up to gather a group of professors to check on the stone when I saw her eyes cloud over and she sat back down as if nothing was wrong. Ron and Hermione wanted to go after the stone themselves then and there but I insisted that we try to ask Professor Flitwick for help. He's clearly only part human and I hoped that would mean he was resistant to whatever was affecting Professor McGonagall, unfortunately he wasn't. I was watching closely and the same thing happened. Hermione noticed but didn't know what it meant and I don't know why none of the others noticed it seemed obvious to me but they haven't grown up in a household where they have to notice small changes in expression like we have. So, there was no help available from the professors, it would've been a waste of time to try again. We also broke into Dumbledore's office and tried to call for outside help from the magical police, called Aurors, but unfortunately the floo required a password. The floo is the only way to send an instant message to someone, you throw some magical powder into the fireplace and when the flames turn green you can either step into the fire and call the address where you want to go or call the address and stick your head in the fire to talk to someone like a telephone. Terribly inconvenient, to kneel with your head in the fire but I would have been happy to try it to get help. Neville said the Aurors have a message spell but the only other way to communicate in the wizarding world is to send an owl and I regret that I didn't now but at the time I didn't think it would be fast enough to do any good. It wouldn't have helped with Voldemort at the time but at least it would have other people knowing what is going on in the school.**_

_**One other thing I'm not sure if I told you or not, after Quirrell died and the Voldemort smoke thingy left, Dumbledore was there. I didn't notice him arrive so I don't know if it was a coincidence that he arrived just half a second too late to do anything or if he'd been standing there for a while and chose not to do anything to help me. I'm not even absolutely sure I saw him there at all, the memory is a bit hazy like it might not be real. **_

_**I understand your warnings about the Weasleys and I agree completely. I don't know if I can trust Ron, his tendency to blurt things out without thinking when he's angry means I don't think he can be deliberately or knowingly hiding some secret plan from me, but I'm pretty sure his mother has some sort of agenda for me whether it is her own or on Dumbledore's orders I don't know but she almost worships the man as much as Hagrid does. Ron and I aren't on good terms at all so I have no idea why she has invited me to spend part of the summer. Mind you he doesn't really have any other friends it would make sense to invite either. But he also has a house full of siblings. Surely, they don't all get to have friends come and stay, the house would be overrun.**_

_**I don't know if it is possible to send spells through the mail like that but if it is I give you my unconditional word that I will never do that to you without telling you and that nothing I send will harm you in any way.**_

_**Your friend always**_

_**Harry**_

Harry hit send as Dean had shown him and wondered how long it would be before Spencer replied. He thought about the time lines and realised that it was still 0400 in California and reluctantly shut the computer down.

-o0o-

"Harry, can I talk to you in the kitchen for a moment?" Amala Thomas asked hesitantly as he finished his lunch.

"Sure Mrs Thomas," Harry said, getting up. Dean gave him an odd look.

"What's up? Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry if I did, I'll try to do better," Harry said.

"Relax Harry, you've been the perfect houseguest," Amala said smiling. In fact, it worried her how perfectly Harry behaved. He was always jumping into helping out with the housework and cooking and his cleaning skills wouldn't have been out of place in a top five star hotel. It just wasn't normal for a boy his age.

"I just wanted to know a little more about Spencer. Is she your girlfriend?" Amala asked.

"No, Spencer's not a girl, he's kind of like my big brother. I stayed with him when the Dursleys took me to Las Vegas three years ago," Harry said.

That raised all sorts of alarm bells with Amala. She already had suspicions from his behaviour that Harry had not only been worked like a servant and neglected but also physically abused so to hear that his relatives had left him with a young man frightened her. Consoling herself that it obviously hadn't been a traumatic experience since Harry was so keen on keeping in touch with Spencer but that didn't mean that an eighteen or nineteen year old was an appropriate friend for a child Harry's age.

"How old is Spencer? He must be a lot older than you if he's in college," Amala asked.

Harry grinned and shook his head. "Spencer's a genius, he graduated high school at twelve years old," Harry replied.

"You didn't say how old he is now," Amala reminded him.

"He's fourteen. There's nothing wrong with him being my friend, he's been very good to me. Until this year he was my only real friend. Please don't say you won't forward our letters anymore," Harry begged anxiously.

"Oh Harry of course I'll keep sending on your letters when you go back to school. I just needed to know he wasn't hurting you. There are a lot of dangers out there for a child whose guardians aren't careful enough with them,"

"You mean guardians who don't care what happens to them," Harry said quietly. "It's okay Mrs Thomas I know they've never cared and I've done alright for myself up 'til now. I wish Spencer was older so I could go and live with him but he isn't, and his Mum isn't really well enough to look after him let alone me, Spencer looks after her as best he can with some help from her sister and best friends."

"I know you have, Harry. You've done a marvellous job of bringing yourself up," Amala said hugging him. "But remember that a lot of the time growing up is about knowing which advice to listen to and which advice you should ignore. And I'm afraid I agree with Spencer, no matter how intelligent he is, he isn't old or mature enough to have custody of an eleven year old, even one as self-sufficient as you are."

"I know that Mrs Thomas. But Spencer has always given me good advice, even when I couldn't always follow it," Harry said.

"What advice couldn't you follow?" Amala asked curiously.

"He told me to go to the police and report Vernon the next time he beat me and I tried but the next morning I woke up back at the Dursley, I've been healed, there weren't even any scars, and everyone had forgotten the whole incident. I had no evidence it even happened other than Spencer sending me a photocopy of the letter I sent him on my way to the police station and the fact that even all the old scars around the injuries I told him about had been healed," Harry said very quietly.

"That could only happen with magic. Someone wanted you to stay in my relative's house and be abused?" Harry noticed that Amala looked scared and thought that she was worried someone would come and take their memories of him staying with them. "Nobody from that world except Dean and Seamus know where I am. I'll tell them not to mention me if they write to anyone," he offered.

"Who would want you to be abused?" Amala asked.

"I don't know who did it," Harry admitted. "But I don't know if they want me abused. After it happened Vernon didn't lose his temper and hit me for months. Even Dudley started bullying the other kids in the neighbourhood and left me alone unless his friends were egging him on."

"Vernon is your uncle and Dudley your cousin?" Amala clarified.

"Yeah that's right but they don't want to be related to me any more than I want to be related to them so I try to ignore that fact, actually it's Vernon's wife Petunia that was my Mum's sister, it's just my bad luck that she married such a complete tosser," Harry replied.

Amala chuckled. "So you think that you're safe here?" she asked.

"I think so. I didn't tell anyone I was coming here, but I'm a little disappointed my other friends haven't been in contact. I thought that if they sent me an owl post it would come to me not to the Dursleys just because the sender thought I was there," Harry said.

"Dean said he was surprised that you wanted to spend most of the summer with him and Seamus instead of your best friends," Amala said.

Harry shrugged. "My other friends were warned off inviting me for the summer. Dumbledore wanted me to go back to the Dursleys. He didn't think to warn off Dean or Seamus because he didn't think we were close friends because we don't hang out outside of the dorm but I think that Dean knows me better than anyone else at Hogwarts." Harry didn't tell her that he wasn't sure if Ron or Hermione were true friends or if they were being used, either willingly or unwillingly by someone else to try to control him. He was afraid Mrs Thomas would think that he was crazy and discount what he'd said earlier if he did and it was more important that she believed that someone had taken his memories and returned him to the Dursleys and that it was safer for her if she didn't mention him to any witches or wizards, or try to have him removed from the Dursley's custody. He didn't want to risk his connection to Spencer becoming compromised.

"You think you're being watched at school?" Amala asked.

Harry shrugged, "I don't know who in that world I can trust. Dean comes from outside it so I can trust him, Hermione does too but she has far too much respect for all forms of authority," he replied. "Dumbledore placed me with the Dursleys in the first place and he insisted that I had to go back for the summer when I asked him to find me a new place to live, which makes him the prime suspect in wiping memories and returning me there after I was assaulted by Vernon last year."

"Do you think you're safe at school? Is Dean safe?" Amala asked anxiously.

"Dean's safer than I am but the professors will tell you that I go looking for trouble. I don't think I do, it just seems to come looking for me," Harry said self depreciatingly. "Some of the problem is that there are students at school whose parents supported Voldemort, the Dark wizard who tried to take over the wizarding world who I supposedly stopped when he killed my parents when I was a baby. Some of whom only went to jail because they were able to be rounded up after their master was defeated that night. And then there's the fact he's not as totally dead as he should be and was responsible for most of the trouble I got into last year. I'm his number one enemy, not because I killed him as a baby because I really don't think I could have but because everyone thinks I did. My ongoing survival is an embarrassment to him and a barrier to him taking over the wizarding world because the public seem to have this stupid expectation that I can do the impossible."

"He's going to try to kill you?" Amala asked shocked.

"He tried twice last year and he's still not properly dead so he will come back again," Harry said bluntly.

"Do you think you'd be safer going to school somewhere else?" Amala asked.

"Definitely, but I don't think I'd be allowed to go anywhere else," Harry said despondently. "I think I'd be dragged back and forced to go to Hogwarts."

"But you don't expect them to come and drag you back over the summer? Do you think they know you're not where you're supposed to be?"

"That depends if the person watching my relative's house is from Hogwarts or not," Harry said thoughtfully. "If he's watching again then he or she knows I'm not there but whether they know I'm supposed to be there or not is the question. Even if he does know I don't think he'd think to look here, he'll try to check Ron's Hermione's and Neville's first and I think Neville would write and warn me if someone was looking for me, or at least write to check I was okay since he doesn't know where I am either."

"Okay, I won't worry too much about that then. Maybe I should write myself a note in case you disappear in the night and I forget you were here?" Amala asked.

"It would certainly ease your mind that you might be made to forget but even if it did happen and you read the note you shouldn't try to get in touch with me directly, they might be watching for that to make sure none of you remember and it might not be safe to let them find out their spell removing the memories didn't work," Harry replied thoughtfully.

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	85. Chapter 85

**Chapter 85**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

_To: _Harry Potter email

_From: _Spencer Reid

Monday 6/29/92 2:30pm Pacific Standard Time (PST)

_Dear Harry_

_You got an email address that's great we can write much more easily now and it'll be cheaper for you too. I was so excited when I logged on this morning and saw your email. _

_I guess you know that I'm eight hours behind you time wise so we need to make a plan when to 'talk'. I probably have more flexible access to a computer than you do. I usually get up and get Mom sorted. I could be on line at ten o'clock tomorrow morning here which would be six pm where you are but what time is supper, I wouldn't want you to miss it or make Mrs Thomas angry at you not coming to the table on time or doing your share of setting the table or cleaning up afterwards. Anytime, after that suits me fine as well. I should be able to stay on line until about four o'clock here (midnight there). Just let me know when. It would be great if we could be on line together, almost like getting to talk to you. I'll let you know if something changes._

_Summer seems to be passing slowly here, I hate to have to admit that it's already dragging. Mom isn't as well as she could be, unfortunately her Doctor retired six months ago and she doesn't trust his replacement so she's stopped taking her medication again, which is probably why her carers insisted I come home this summer to sort things out. Unfortunately, they have more faith in my ability to manage her illness and get her take her medication than I do. I'm trying to find her a new Doctor that she finds trustworthy and that her insurance will accept, but it's a catch 22, I need her on the medication to be rational enough to give a new doctor a chance and she needs to trust the doctor to stop fighting taking the medication they prescribe. _

_The hideout is just as I left it. In fact, I haven't changed much since you were here other than swap out the books and clothing. I am always a little surprised when I return that the building hasn't been demolished or taken over by squatters. I wonder if your accidental magic that night the vagrant frightened you is still affecting the hideout and keeping it hidden. Even the mattress in the room hasn't been overrun with the rats that continue to live in the rest of the building, though the one under the pipe entrance is nearly eaten and rotted away. It's still easy for me to get in, I was afraid that I would have grown too big to get through the pipes but I'm still thin and short for my age. Mom says I'll start growing soon but I've yet to see signs of it. The boys my age are all a lot taller than me now. And to be honest I don't know if she really knows how old I am half the time either so I don't know if she's right or not. Or just being encouraging, not that she usually tells white lies like that, she says that it's always better to face the truth than to believe pretty lies._

_I went to the buffet I took you to yesterday and had a big feed, I chose some vegetables because I know you worry about my diet as much as I did yours when you were with the Dursleys. I think being small for my age helped there, I won't be able to go much longer until I'm old enough to pay to eat there on my own. The staff on the door looked surprised and relieved to see me. I think they thought something bad might have happened to me when I stopped going there._

_I'm attempting to do a correspondence course for one of my subjects but while the subject is interesting, or it should be, it doesn't hold my attention the way being in class does. Lectures may not be very interactive but I always seem to learn something more by being there. Two years ago, in high school I never thought I'd say that, I thought class was almost a waste of time. I miss Caltech, my dorm room and the atmosphere almost as much as I miss going to class. I feel selfish for resenting Mom and her need to be looked after for bringing me home. I'm trying hard to focus on spending quality time with Mom and enjoying the time we have together on her good days._

_My other summer project is learning to cook properly. I've borrowed all the beginner cookbooks from the library and read them but this also seems to be something that is easier to learn when taught while doing so I haven't had much success. I thought it would be a lot like chemistry only edible but the instructions are too vague or I need to look up what they mean in the first place. The book you made for me is a lot better than any of them are, though the first time I used it was a disaster. I tried to cook the roast beef and I didn't realize that you used a different measurement of temperature than we do and it turned out almost raw, and then I worked out the problem and cooked it some more but it I ended up overcooking it. I've managed a couple of barely edible meals so far, all out of your book, but luckily Mom's been willing to eat my humble efforts even if they're a bit overcooked. Hopefully my Aunt will arrive back before I have to leave and will be willing to give me a couple of lessons to get me on my way._

_Hoping to hear from you tomorrow._

_Your friend always_

_Spencer_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.


	86. Chapter 86

**Chapter 86**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

To: Spencer Reid email

_From: _Harry Potter email

Tuesday 30/6/92 6:01pm Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

_**Hi Spencer**_

_**Are you there? **_

_**I have about an hour til dinner and it's not my turn to help with it, I'm on clean up tonight, so we can talk if you're available. I must admit I'm excited for almost immediate conversation.**_

_**Your friend always**_

_**Harry**_

To: Harry Potter email

From: Spencer Reid email

Tuesday 6/30/92 10:03 Pacific Standard Time (PST)

_Hi Harry_

_It's so good to talk to you._

_How is your summer going? Are things still going well between you and Dean and Seamus?_

_Spencer_

To: Spencer Reid email

_From: _Harry Potter email

Tuesday 30/6/92 6:04pm (GMT)

_**Hi Spencer**_

_**It's going really well. I like the Thomas's, and Dean and Seamus and I are getting along well. I'm not sure why Seamus and I didn't seem to gel at school so much. But he doesn't like Ron or Hermione so that's probably why he keeps his distance. I hope Ron hasn't said anything nasty to keep him away, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did.**_

_**Dean and Seamus are best mates and sometimes I feel a bit left out of their friendship but I also appreciate the time on my own sometimes while they're doing best friend things. I wish I had a friend like that at school to hang out with but my best friend will always be you and I'm more than fine with that. It's nice to have someone completely out of the whole mess that I know cannot be being manipulated to be my friend or to try to persuade me to do things or act in a certain way.**_

_**How's your Mum? Is she having a good day? Have you found a new doctor that she'll like?**_

_**Harry**_

To: Harry Potter email

From: Spencer Reid email

Tuesday 6/30/92 10:07 (PST)

_Hi Harry_

_Mom's having a good day. She took her medications for me and I really like the doctor I spoke to yesterday so I home Mom will. I only wish now that I could have got her in to see the him today instead of tomorrow but there was no way to know yesterday that today would be better, I'll just have to hope that tomorrow's a good day too._

_I'm glad you're having a good summer._

_Maybe you should ask Seamus and Dean if Ron or anyone else tried to warn them off hanging out with you at school, or if he's just so unpleasant when you're not there that they're actually avoiding him instead of you. I'm not sure why he would but from what you've said he does seem unusually possessive of your friendship sometimes, even if he does seem to throw it away over every slight disagreement. _

To: Spencer Reid email

_From: _Harry Potter email

Tuesday 30/6/92 6:09pm (GMT)

_**Hi Spencer**_

_**I think Ron's lack of self-confidence and possessiveness issues come from being the sixth of seven children, never really having anything that was just his. He looks up to his brothers and doesn't think that he is as good as any of them except for Percy, the 5**__**th**__** year prefect, Ron says he's smart and gets good grades but he looks down on him for being a swot. That doesn't excuse his behaviour acting like he owns me though. I will be angry if he did say something to stop Seamus from wanting to be my friend before this, but I could see him doing it.**_

_**How is the cooking going? What are you planning to cook for dinner?**_

_**I'm sorry that the cookbook I made you hasn't helped and I wish I could give you some more advice on learning to cook but to be honest I barely remember learning. I was too young to read recipes and Aunt Petunia would bark orders at me and then punish me if the food wasn't perfect and the Dursleys liked their food as unhealthy as possible. The best thing I learned was to take my time and not be impatient it's better to have the heat a little lower even if you are in a rush to get it done, there's more room for errors even if the food does soak more fat that way, the Dursleys never cared about that. But if you want it to soak in less fat have the oil or fat hot before you put the food in. I choose the temperature from instinct so I can't really tell you what's right but you can buy cooking thermometers and some of the books you borrowed might be able to tell you what temperature you want.**_

To: Harry Potter email

From: Spencer Reid email

Tuesday 6/30/92 10:12 (PST)

_Hi_

_The cookbook you made me is better than anything I borrowed from the library, I'm just nervous because I haven't really tried much yet since then. I was planning on broiled chicken and salad. I'm sure I can't get salad all that wrong it's just cutting and mixing, I'm going to make the dressing on the side so if it doesn't turn out any good we can skip it. Broiled chicken doesn't sound any harder than cheese toasties and I can do that._

To: Spencer Reid email

_From: _Harry Potter email

Tuesday 30/6/92 6:13pm (GMT)

_**Hi **_

_**Just had to look up broiled and I think it means what I call grilled. To cook or grill under a flame, that makes sense because I think I call what you call cheese toasties, grilled cheese sandwiches.**_

_**Grilling chicken is easy, the trick is to not use too high a heat and turn to cook the other side too, so it doesn't burn before it's cooked through the middle. You need to make sure you cook it until it isn't pink in the middle, or you'll make yourself sick. Are you going to crumb or season it first? That will help keep the chicken from getting too dry if you overcook it a bit.**_

To: Harry Potter email

From: Spencer Reid email

Tuesday 6/30/92 10:17 (PST)

_I don't know, what should I season it with? I don't have the ingredients for the fried chicken coating in your book, and would that work if I was broiling instead of frying?_

To: Spencer Reid email

_From: _Harry Potter email

Tuesday 30/6/92 6:18pm (GMT)

_**You can season chicken with almost any herb or spice that you like or just coat it lightly with some flour or breadcrumbs, you could use a little milk to wet the chicken to get things to stick to it if you done have an egg, and yeah it will work to grill it instead of frying it, the meat just ends up a bit drier and not as greasy. If I was cooking for just Petunia or here at the Thomas's I usually use salt and pepper, or a special seasoning mix but you could use any dried herbs as well if you use them sparingly. For Vernon and Dudley I'd use egg and then breadcrumbs or a mix of breadcrumbs and powdered parmesan cheese with herbs and fry the chicken. It would work to grill/broil as well but Dudley and Vernon didn't like grilled chicken.**_

_**What sort of salad? What ingredients do you have? I've never made salads for the Dursleys and Hogwarts doesn't serve them either so the only one's I know are the Italian ones from the restaurant, but we had a couple of nice ones Mrs Thomas made as well and I could ask her for help if we need it.**_

To: Harry Potter email

From: Spencer Reid email

Tuesday 6/30/92 10:20 (PST)

_I don't know, salad, salad. I've got lettuce and tomato and baby beetroot and some cucumber and carrots and capsicum. The book says to make the dressing with oil, vinegar salt lemon juice and sugar. The restaurants have all these fancy salads but I don't know how to make any of them._

To: Spencer Reid email

_From: _Harry Potter email

Tuesday 30/6/92 6:22pm (GMT)

_**That sounds like a great meal for a hot day. Are you going to use bread as your carbohydrates? Otherwise you'll get hungry again too quickly without them.**_

To: Harry Potter email

From: Spencer Reid email

Tuesday 6/30/92 10:23 (PST)

_We eat too much bread when I'm responsible for feeding us. What else could I use that's easy?_

_It's funny all the time I've emailed and imagined being able to email chat with you I never pictured using it to get you to help me cook dinner_

To: Spencer Reid email

_From: _Harry Potter email

Tuesday 30/6/92 6:25pm (GMT)

_**No me either, but you've always helped me so much, it feels good being able to help you and know my advice isn't something you've already worked out for yourself by the time my letter arrives.**_

_**You could cook potatoes with the skin on in the microwave. Just scrub the potatoes well and stab them with a sharp knife every square inch or two then cook for about five minutes until they're easy to cut with a butter knife. **__**The Dursleys used to have potatoes cooked like that with lashings of butter and chopped bacon and cheese, or a fancy sauce made of cream, mayo, Dijon mustard (though Petunia always made me peel the label off it as soon as she bought it so Vernon wouldn't realise it she'd brought a French food product), chives and shallots when they had guests, but I always had mine plain and they taste pretty good. **_

_**You could also use potato or pasta salads, I think most of them are a bit complicated for you to make at the moment and they're a bit time consuming because you need to precook the potato or pasta and let it cool before you make the salad, but the supermarket should have them premade.**_

To: Harry Potter email

From: Spencer Reid email

Tuesday 6/30/92 10:28 (PST)

_You have a point there. I often worry that my advice so often will arrive too late to do you any good too. I wish that we could communicate like this when you're at school and need me more than you do while you're safely with the Thomas's. it seems ironic that now communication is easier when you need me less than you ever have and when you go back into danger we will have to go back to letters._

_Speaking of advice though, I really don't know what to tell you about next year. I don't think that you're safe at Hogwarts, especially since I cannot work out the motivations behind whoever is trying to control the teachers with magic like that. At first, I thought that it would at least be comforting to know that they're not all in on controlling you or attacking the school and emotionally it might help to know they didn't all betray you, but from a practical point of view it doesn't really matter, willingly or not they are acting against your safety and the safety of every other student in the school. How could one of Voldemort's supporters get into the school and into a position where the professors would trust him enough to let him cast mind controlling spells on them to stop them from protecting the stone. Is there any way to find out whether Dumbledore has been spelled like that as well? The stone should never have been brought into the school and if it's too risky to keep it in the bank then it should've been destroyed._

_I was worried that you thought Dumbledore had been watching you battle Professor Quirrell without trying to help. You said the memory is fuzzy and you weren't sure if it was real but there's no reason for Dumbledore to want you to think that he wouldn't help you, and I cant see it benefitting anyone else except Voldemort himself and he couldn't have altered your memory after you turned him into a black smoky ghost thing could he? I think that the memory is real and maybe the reason it is fuzzy is because Dumbledore tried to remove it because he didn't want you to know he was watching and your occlumency stopped him from getting rid of the memory properly. I wish there was a way to know for sure because I would feel a whole lot better about you being in that school if you could trust that nobody had wiped your memory of anything._

_Do you mean scrub the potatoes with a scrubbing brush?_

To: Spencer Reid email

_From: _Harry Potter email

Tuesday 30/6/92 6:30pm (GMT)

_**Use a scrubbing brush or clean kitchen scourer to clean the potatoes, just make sure you've got all the dirt off, dirt tastes really bad as well as being bad for you. Or you can buy potatoes that are already washed and just rinse them off. **_

_**You're right that I'm safe here so long as Dumbledore or whoever else is looking to control my life doesn't have a way of finding me, and I think they would have come for me by now if they did. Mrs Thomas looks after us well in spite of how hard she works. She asked me about you, making sure you weren't too old to be my friend or the type of person to get me in trouble or take advantage of me somehow. I think I convinced her that you're a good and sensible friend but she might try to contact you herself. Please don't take offence if she does.**_

_**It was comforting to know that I wasn't surrounded by enemies wanting to control me, or wanting to let Voldemort steal the Philosopher's stone but then I realised that it meant that anyone could be spelled at any time. I really can't trust anyone at all, even people I could otherwise trust and have trusted in the past might not be acting under their own control anymore and I won't know unless I find a way to tell whether they've been spelled to mask their normal reactions and choices. I can't even tell which actions of Ron and Hermione's aren't genuine, is the desire to be my friend manufactured or is the friendship real and is someone interfering with their personalities to make me think that I can't trust them to be real friends, or are their personalities altered by someone who thinks that I'm too thick to realise that they're not acting like true friends would? I think that Ron's being influenced to brush aside arguments and return to hanging out with me but I could be wrong. The twins and Percy aren't such ill-mannered hot heads and they're not lazy either, they're all clever with spells, which means study even if it doesn't mean handing in essays on time. Why is Ron so different from his brothers. I just end up going around in circles every time I think about it. Every time I determine that he isn't genuinely my friend and resolve to cut him out of my life, doubts creep in that perhaps he's been manipulated in ways other than I suspect and then I wonder if someone has influenced me to be loyal to him and keep forgiving him as well. I can't even trust my own reactions and feelings. The only one I can absolutely trust is you because you're so far away and it would be easier to prevent our correspondence all together than to intercept each letter and travel to America to alter your reactions.**_

_**I confess I'm a bit embarrassed that I didn't even think of it being Quirrell who'd spelled the teachers to stop them protecting the stone. When I saw McGonagall had been spelled to ignore my request for help, I jumped to the conclusion that that's what had happened to my letter about Hagrid and the dragon and that Dumbledore had done it. But it could easily have been Quirrell too, not wanting attention drawn to how Hagrid got the dragon's egg then too. They were colleagues so he probably would've had the opportunity and it makes sense that he'd want to avoid having to fight the other professors. Particularly Flitwick who is rumoured to be a champion in the international duelling competitions and McGonagall who was reputed to be brutal in the fight against the death eaters in the last war. It makes sense that it was Quirrell but I still think it could also have been Dumbledore, wanting me to have to act to solve the problem myself, I think he's trying to induce a feeling in me that it's my responsibility to protect and save the school but I'm not sure why he wants to do that. **_

_**There's no way to find out now if Dumbledore was spelled like the others, he'd never admit to being beaten like that. I don't know that he could've been though, he is too powerful to control like that. But it was highly suspicious that he was supposedly called away to London and returned at just the right time to watch the end of what happened, unless he'd been disillusioned and was watching us the whole time. If he was watching, I wonder what he was waiting for, would he have stepped in if Ron or Hermione were about to be seriously hurt? Did he step in to save my life or did I save myself while he stood there and watched to see if I would live? Did he even want me to live? I wish I knew what he was thinking that night.**_

To: Harry Potter email

From: Spencer Reid email

Tuesday 6/30/92 10:33 (PST)

_Harry, I am in awe at your trust in me. You're correct in thinking that it would take far more effort for someone to change what we've said to each other than it would to stop one or both of us from writing at all. I certainly don't think anyone is mucking about with our letters and now that we're using email for the summer someone would have to be right here with me to influence what I've written and I swear to you that I'm alone in this part of the library this morning. Nobody is reading our email from my end and the people you think would try to interfere wouldn't let you stay at Dean's so you don't need to worry about it on your end either.  
_

_Don't worry about my feelings regarding Mrs Thomas. I think that I'm more relieved that someone is looking out for you than offended that she was questioning our friendship. It's a relief to know for the next few weeks at least you have an adult you can count on. It sounds like you trust her too. Is that because she is not a witch? Or because she's been passing letters along for us?_

To: Spencer Reid email

_From: _Harry Potter email

Tuesday 30/6/92 6:35pm (GMT)

_**I doubt that any magical person could intercept our email, most of them wouldn't even believe that communication like this could possibly exist. Not only do they still use candles, parchment and owl post, their muggle studies class is more than fifty years behind the times and they refuse to believe non-magical technology is capable of doing anything that they couldn't do with magic. Even muggleborns with an aptitude for computer games before they turn eleven and completely removed from learning anything more than they'd been taught in primary school or managed to teach themselves over the summers. Dean and Seamus both knew how to use email and play the games on the computer but we needed Mr Thomas' help to set up my email address and he hasn't got any new games or learnt any other new computer skills this summer. Though part of that would be because computer games are expensive and the Thomas's already pay so much more for his education than they will for the girls and his birthday and Christmas presents were all things he could use at school.**_

_**I do trust Mrs Thomas and you're right that it helps to know that as a muggle who Dumbledore doesn't think that I know, she is outside his sphere of influence and she can't be a Voldemort supporter. I also want to think well of her because passing letters between worlds so we can stay in contact while I'm at Hogwarts is such a big thing for me, but more than that is that she's concerned about me, making sure we're eating and sleeping and finishing our homework, teaching us some new things in the kitchen and checking up on you like a proper guardian would.**_

_**I told her about the risks of having me stay here. I felt that I had to be honest with her and Mr Thomas about it all. She is worried but she hasn't given me any signs that she doesn't want me here, or regrets inviting me. She is a very generous woman but I'm not sure how much she truly understands the risks or whether she just thinks that I'm being paranoid. I told her that I was careful not to tell anyone where I was going and I hope that Dumbledore or whoever it is doesn't have the power to track me some other way but that I didn't know enough about magic to guarantee it.**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

A/N2: I tried to give Harry and Spencer real email addresses but apparently Fanfic deletes even fake email accounts.


	87. Chapter 87

**Chapter 87**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

To: Harry Potter email

From: Spencer Reid email

Tuesday 6/30/92 10:42 (PST)

_I'm pleased and relieved that you warned Mr and Mrs Thomas about the potential problems with having you stay with them and let them make an informed choice. I'm also very glad that they agreed to let you stay. _

_I agree that email should be secure, it is possible to hack someone's email account but unless you know their password and email address or have access to the computer they use, it does take quite a lot of technical knowledge of computers, not just the regular users' knowledge. I can't do it but then again I haven't spent much time trying to learn to do things like that. I'm sure I could find a way to learn if I really needed to but I can't see much point. I don't want to invade people's privacy like that._

_Hopefully whoever is so insistent on you being at the Dursleys' won't think to look for you at Dean's or at Seamus's houses. If it is someone at Hogwarts, they have to know that the three of you are roommates and friendly with each other even if they don't realise how friendly you are with people other than Ron and Hermione who hang around you constantly when they're not angry with you._

To: Harry Potter email

From: Spencer Reid email

Wednesday 7/1/92 10:39 (PST)

_Hi Harry_

_Are you there?_

_Dinner last night went really well, the chicken was cooked properly and you the flour and milk stopped it from drying out, I didn't have any herbs to add to it so it was a bit plain, the potatoes were good microwaved in their skins though, Mom really enjoyed them with a little sour cream, and the salad dressing was a bit too salty but still good. Mom ate everything on her plate which was good to see, she often doesn't have a lot of appetite. Not just when I'm cooking but a lot of the time whether she's taking her medication or not. She says that it makes foods taste funny when she takes it and when she doesn't, I sometimes can't convince her that it's dinner time at all. It was really nice to see her enjoying food that I made for her that I knew was good for her._

_Tonight I'm going to try to cook the spaghetti marinara from your book. It looks harder than broiled chicken but the instructions are clear enough. The beginner's cookbooks say spaghetti is cooked as soon as the piece will stick to the front of the refrigerator when you throw it at it which is no help at all. How do I know when to start trying to throw it at the refrigerator and I don't want to start throwing food and risk upsetting Mom. I'm pretty sure you never threw food at the refrigerator at the Dursleys either. Is there a better way to know when it's cooked other than tasting it to see if it's soft enough?_

To: Harry Potter email

From: Spencer Reid email

Wednesday 7/1/92 10:56 (PST)

_I guess you can't talk today. Hopefully I'll hear from you tomorrow. _

_I've been reading about Genetics. One of my friends from Biochemistry is doing it this summer and contacted me wanting some help with the math in her assignment. It is interesting to read about but I don't think it would hold my attention for the whole semester._

_I have to go now to try to get Mom to the doctors on time. I'll try to talk to you tomorrow._

To: Spencer Reid email

_From: _Harry Potter email

Thursday 2/7/92 6:05pm (GMT)

_**Hi Spencer**_

_**Sorry that I didn't write to you yesterday, the Thomas's took us to the local visiting carnival. It was great fun though even the rollercoasters were a bit tame compared to flying my own broom and even the carts at Gringotts are faster. I didn't much like not being in control. Still they were a lot of fun, and I got to eat all the things Dudley and his friends talked about. Some of the jugglers and acrobats were amazing and we went early enough that we could sit in on a quick class to learn some of the acrobatics, not that we actually succeeded in doing any of it but it gave us a better appreciation of how hard it is. I did better on the trapeze than most of the others, I think it's because of the muscles I use to make tight turns and barrel rolls when I'm flying.**_

_**Dean, Seamus and I went to Diagon Alley today, it was a bit of a risk that someone has already noticed that I'm not at Privet Drive and is looking for me but we travelled the nonmagical way by tube and I stayed well away from Dean and Seamus from the time we got to the station so nobody will tell anyone who is looking for me that I was seen with them. I offered to stay home or spend the day at the local library to reduce the risks, but Dean wouldn't hear of it. Hopefully I wasn't followed back to Dean's home. I didn't see anyone I recognised or who appeared to be following me but that doesn't mean someone couldn't be using magic to change their appearance or to hide completely. After all, I can't have the only invisibility cloak in London and Dumbledore can't be the only wizard capable of being invisible without one. Though I couldn't use my cloak in the crowds at the station or on the train and hopefully the number of people on the trains in rush hour made it really difficult for anyone without experience on the underground to follow us.**_

_**I wore my cap to hide my scar and my hair and nobody seemed to know who I was except Mr Blott who I spent quite a bit of time with last summer so he actually knows me, nobody called out my name or wanted to shake my hand and nobody seemed to be actively looking for the-boy-who-lived, we managed to get several issues of 'The Daily Prophet' and I wasn't mentioned in any of them. I don't think that the general public, or Dumbledore knows I am missing, but maybe whoever did that to the wards does know but didn't think to look for me in Diagon Alley. It was great fun exploring the Alley properly, I wandered in and out of most of the shops. One thing struck me as odd though, there are no food shops. I mean there's a couple of restaurant type places and cafes and an amazing ice-cream parlour but no butcher or greengrocer or supermarket. There's a cake shop but not the sort of bakery that sells bread as well as cakes and pies. At least there isn't any shops like that on the part of the Alley where we were, we didn't go down Knockturn Alley, well we tried and someone grabbed us and told us it wasn't safe down there for children so we didn't go any further but surely the food shops aren't down there. There must be another magical shopping centre because I can't imagine any of the witches I saw today in their robes and cloaks and bonnets looking like actors in a telly program set in the eighteenth century popping out to Tesco or Woolworths or the local grocery store without being noticed. I know there's shops in the town of Hogsmeade near Hogwarts but surely every witch or wizard wouldn't go all the way to Scotland to buy groceries every week.**_

_**I took your advice and asked Mr Blott about different schools. He says Hogwarts is by far the best school in the United Kingdom, there are a couple of small local schools but they're mostly for kids who's magic isn't strong enough to get accepted at Hogwarts. I think with my habits of self study I could still learn enough at a school like that so long as I had access to the books I needed, but I'd stand out there too much and I wouldn't be far enough away from whoever's watching to stop them from finding and returning me to the Dursleys again with my memory wiped. I've been practicing my occlumency as frequently as I can but we have no way of knowing it will work.**_

_**Mr Blott didn't know much about the other international schools but he did sell me a book about them. It's several years old but I doubt that magical schools change all that much since all the schools in the book are hundreds of years old. There are rumoured to be two schools of magic in America. Salem Academy (which used to be Salem Witches Academy but apparently they do take boys too for at least the last hundred years or more) in Salem Massachusetts and Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry which is also in Massachusetts though not in the same part of the state. The book is a little unclear whether they're possibly the same school and it changed its name to Ilvermorny when it started accepting Wizards or if Ilvermorny was the wizarding school, and Salem the witches' school and they kept that name when they joined together or if they really are still two different schools. It doesn't make sense for a country as big as yours to have only two main schools of magic and have them both within just over 200 kilometres of each other, not that distances are as important with magical travel available. Then again, the witches and wizards I've met so far aren't gifted with much common sense so maybe I shouldn't use that argument. The book also then says that Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is located in Lake Nipigon, Ontario Canada There's also a school of magic in Mexico which would actually be closer to you but the book said that most of the classes are taught in Mexican Spanish or Nahuatl one of their native languages and there's the Whitestar Academy of Magic, in the Laurentian mountains of Quebec that teaches classes in French.**_

_**Anyway I have written to the headmaster/headmistress of Ilvermorny and of Salem Academy if they're two different schools, asking if I can be a student there next year. I hope it isn't too late to enrol for next year. I sent the letter to Ilvermorney to both the addresses in the book so hopefully they get it, I have no real faith that either of the addresses is totally correct but I don't know what else to do. Wizarding post doesn't require addresses but I still don't want to risk harming Hedwig by trying to send her so far. We haven't got our supply letters for Hogwarts yet so it shouldn't be should it? Mrs Thomas says she will help me to get to America if they accept me and don't send some way for me to get there. There is a way to travel between continents by magic. It's called an international portkey. The book I got on magical transportation strongly recommends an anti nausea potion ten minutes prior to travel and again on landing so it sounds really rough but the portkey from London to Massachusetts or Ontario takes about half an hour. If magical travel is that easy and I get into Ilvermorny or Salem then maybe I could come and visit you one day, maybe spend one of the school holidays with you if that's okay.**_

_**Dean and Seamus are a little shocked that I don't want to go back to Hogwarts and I think both of them are a bit worried that their parents would think that changing schools was an excellent idea for them as well. Honestly, I would like them to come with me, but only if they want to. I wouldn't want them to resent me for making their parents decide to send them to a different school and without me there to be manipulated by Dumbledore and as bait for Voldemort, Hogwarts should be much safer for them than it was last year. Thankfully for them, Mrs Thomas isn't at all interested in having Dean go to school in another country, she couldn't afford it for a start and I think she would like him to come home and go to the local comprehensive if he could learn magic another way, but she'd never ask him to give up Hogwarts. She really misses him though, much more than I think Vernon and Petunia would miss Dudley for all they make such a fuss over him when he's home.**_

To: Harry Potter email

From: Spencer Reid email

Thursday 7/2/92 10:19 (PST)

_Harry, I would love to see you. But it would be even better to know you were away from that crazy school where you nearly died too many times, and safe from whoever it is that is trying to control you. If Ilvermorny or Salem Academy can keep you safe then I hope you are accepted there. However if you were choosing a school just to be closer to me and they were otherwise equally good and there wasn't any other benefit to Ilvermorny over Salem then you should also consider that Lake Nipigon might be slightly closer in miles but it would probably take longer to get to Pasadena by nonmagical transport because of the border crossing. It's also further north so it would be a lot colder in winter and being in Canada would make it harder for me to visit you. However it would be worth checking out if magical Britain is on better terms with Canada or America when it comes to things like international students, or if there are professors at either school that taught at Hogwarts in the past, and might be influenced by Dumbledore. If Ilvermorny and Salem aren't the safest place for you then please don't come to America just because I am here. I am confident that we will find a way to keep in touch no matter where you go. As I'm sure you know, Ilvermorny and Salem are both on the other side of the country to Caltech anyway and definitely not in easy travel distance to visit from Nevada or California by non magical means. and remember that the East coast of the USA is nearly as far from California as it is from London, 2983miles compared to 3269miles, so while it's in the same country it might be nearly as hard to travel magically as well. In fact the school in Mexico would be a lot closer to me if there is a way to learn languages by magic or a charm you could cast on your eyes, ears and mouth so you would hear and read English and people listening to you would hear you speaking their language, and anyone looking for you might not think to look there._

_It is fascinating to know that there is a magical society here as well, several slightly different ones in Mexico and Canada too from the sound of the descriptions in your book. I would love to be able to explore it with you one day though it's probably hidden from nonmagical people like Hogwarts and Diagon Alley are hidden and it sounds like it might be concentrated on the east coast of the country since both the schools are there. Of course, it makes sense that magic wouldn't just be a British thing. I wonder if they're as isolated from the rest of civilisation as the British Wizarding World is, or if they've embraced modern technology and blend in with our society. When you really think about it, they'd fit right in among all the others who practice non mainstream religions, cults, the doomsday preppers and the isolationists. There is so many fringe groups here that it would be easy to hide in plain sight without withdrawing from the world completely like they did in Britain._

_I'm glad that you weren't caught going to Diagon Alley but it probably is a risk you shouldn't take too often, especially as it meant travelling by yourself where you were vulnerable to a lot more than just the people you're worried are looking for you. I know I sound hypocritical since I wasn't much older than you are when I first caught the bus to California to attend Caltech and the train home to visit Mom, but I didn't have any known enemies. It concerns me a little the idea that there could be somebody looking to return you to the Dursleys even though they know you're better off where you are now. But at least you can be fairly sure now that they don't have some magic way of finding you this summer or they already would have found you. Which means if you can get into another school you wont be dragged back unless they go to the effort of physically trying to find you and I would assume that your new school would take exception to its students being kidnapped._

To: Spencer Reid email

_From: _Harry Potter email

Thursday 2/7/92 6:15pm (GMT)

_**Your mention of the distances involved was disheartening, but no matter how bad the portkey is 25 minutes of hell each way would be worth it to be able to visit you in person and see all the things you've told me about for myself.**_

_**I have no reason to believe that Ilvermorny or Salem Academy will not be safe for me, or that one of the other schools would be safer. If someone was to come looking for me they would of course look into schools in English speaking countries first and there aren't so many of them that it would be impossible to check them all, but unless I find a good translation charm or a magical way to become fluent in another language in the next six weeks then I think I need to go to an English speaking school. I wish that I'd thought to ask Mr Blott about spells like that. The only way to be less easily found would be to not go to a wizarding school at all. To move completely into the nonmagical world and try to teach myself magic or to hire a private tutor. It can't be impossible but I don't have the connections to do that here in England let alone in another country. At least now I know more about what is possible with magic. What I learned before I started Hogwarts was mostly driven by building on the things I did the first time by accident or by things I desperately needed at the time. They were all charms, I never even knew that transfiguration was possible, let alone potions and defence. Now I know and I could stock up on the textbooks I'd use for the next six years before disappearing I'm sure I don't actually need to go to school to learn the things I want to learn. The only problem is finding a way to enrol in a regular school somewhere that I can't be found without a parent or guardian to sign the paperwork, and to find a place to live where people won't notice or take advantage of the fact I'm not living with an adult.**_

To: Harry Potter email

From: Spencer Reid email

Thursday 7/2/92 10:20pm (PST)

_Harry, whether you go to a magical school or a nonmagical school you need a guardian for more than signing paperwork. If it were just that Mrs Thomas might be happy to enrol you in a muggle boarding school there in England but you would still need someone to look after you over the summer and other school holidays. It isn't normal for a child to spend all their holidays at school, and there are a lot more holidays at muggle boarding schools than just Christmas, it's normal for students to go home for three major term breaks and three half term weekends during the year as well. In addition to that, responsible schools require a legal next of kin to make decisions for you about medical care if you're ever sick or injured, and extra consent forms for camps and excursions. Not to mention that you should have an adult you can trust to look after you and go to for advice and assistance when you need it. I was just lucky that my mother was well enough to enrol me in school and that I learned to sign her signature for the days she wasn't well, I was constantly worried that she would be called in for a teacher conference or something on a day she wasn't well and it would be discovered that she actually wasn't capable of caring for herself, let alone a child and she'd be placed in an institution and I'd be sent to foster care, it was one of the reasons I was so keen to skip ahead as many classes as I could as quickly as I could after Dad left. I knew that once I entered the foster care system I may not be allowed to skip ahead again but surely they couldn't put me back into a grade I'd already tested out of._

_If it was only to sign paperwork I would gladly do it for you, unfortunately I still couldn't pass as an adult in person and most schools would demand to meet with your guardians before accepting your enrolment, and I wouldn't recommend trying to live without a responsible adult to do the things you can't. I've been there and it sucks, I doubt the school would've been as apathetic about the level of bullying I received if my lawyer father was on the phone threatening to sue them over letting adult students beat up a ten or eleven year old._

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

A/N2: I wish everyone the best in this time. Please stay safe and keep your distance, stay at home if you can. I'm very concerned that the UK and the US and some other countries are raising the restrictions too soon, putting the economy above people's health and lives.


	88. Chapter 88

**Chapter 88**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

A/N Spencer and Harry enjoyed being able to email and used it to have long conversations with each other almost every day. I will just include the more important parts of the conversation.

To: _Spencer Reid email_

_From: __Harry Potter email_

Friday 3/7/92 6:04pm (GMT)

_**It's unusually hot this week for London, I'm sure that you wouldn't find it all that hot at all compared to Las Vegas or California but after a year in Scotland where it rarely gets warm enough not to need a jumper or a warming charm it's a bit hard to become accustomed to. So we've been spending most of our free time out of the flat as it's too hot and stuffy.**_

_**Dean and Seamus are teaching me how to swim. There's a public pool just up the road from Seamus place and we spend a couple of hours each afternoon there that Dean isn't looking after his sisters. Swimming is really hard, so much harder than flying but it is fun. Dean has a lot of friends at the pool most days and he hangs around with them while Seamus is teaching me and then Dean teaches me some himself when his friends aren't there. They're nice guys and Dean tries to make sure Seamus and I are included in the things he does with them but it's more difficult than I thought it would be to hang around with people who aren't allowed to know about magic. None of our stories about school make sense without magic involved, as you said our school isn't safe and the things that happen are crazy even with magic, without it the stories make no sense at all, any other school would be closed if even one of the things that happened this year happened there. Possessed teachers, teachers attempting to kill students, taking students into the forest where they are attacked by a creature. Even the classes don't make sense if you convert them to nonmagical subjects, history that teaches about wars nobody has ever heard of, Defence, astronomy, gardening and cooking instead of maths and English. Still it's nice to hang out with people without having to question their motives for what they say all the time. These people don't know that I'm famous and they've never even heard of Dumbledore or Voldemort, or whoever else my secret enemy at Privet Drive was and they hopefully won't ever meet any of them and I can be myself and not worry about who the others are talking to and what they're telling them about me.**_

_**Speaking of cooking, how is it going? Are you starting to enjoy it? I do, even more now that I know that people are grateful for my work and that I'll get to eat as much as I want of the results.**_

_To: Harry Potter email_

From: _Spencer Reid email_

_Friday 7/3_/92 10:10am (PST)

_No I'm not starting to enjoy cooking, it's still a stressful chore, but I think that I am getting better at it. I'm able to follow your recipes without stopping to look things up other than converting the temperatures and the food is edible even if I can't help but think that you would have made it better than I did. Mom seems to be enjoying my cooking, or at least she's eating more. I think that she's got used to eating proper meals cooked by her friends so I'm glad she's eating well enough not to lose weight again over the summer and make them and Aunt Ethel think that I'm not capable of looking after Mom properly or worse, that I'm deliberately neglecting her for some reason._

_I can see how not being able to tell people about where you go to school or any of the magical world would be difficult. I'm so glad that you were aware I already knew about the things you could do before you found out that you weren't allowed to tell me, and that you felt that you were able to tell me more about magic and the wizarding world because of that. Otherwise I seriously doubt that our friendship would have survived you not being able to talk honestly about most of the things going on in your life without having to double check you hadn't mentioned anything you shouldn't. Let alone not being able to explain why it takes more than twice as long to send and receive letters. I hate to think that way because you're the best friend I could ever imagine having, but honestly, I can't picture feeling like you trusted me when you were so clearly withholding so much of the things going on in your life. I'm glad to hear that Dean is trying to remain friends with the boys he went to elementary school with. In a lot of ways it is like when I moved up classes. If I'd known how hard it would be to make new friends, I would have tried harder to spend time outside school playing with my original classmates. Maybe if I'd put more effort in we could have stayed friends even if we didn't have an awful lot in common. It's too late now, they don't know me as anything other than the genius that was moved out of their class. It would have been difficult because Mom wasn't keen of me going out and playing without her being there, and there was so many days she wasn't well enough to come, and of course on a bad day she's even more paranoid about letting me out of her sight._

_I'm glad that you're having fun learning to swim, I have trouble swimming too, it takes more body fat than we have to be naturally buoyant so we have to work harder than everyone else. It is a good skill to have though and it will help you to keep fit now that you're not working hard in the garden and the house or training for Quidditch._

To: _Spencer Reid email_

_From: __Harry Potter email_

Friday 3/7/92 6:15pm (GMT)

_**I'm glad Dean's keeping up with old friends as well. Seamus doesn't receive letters from any of his friends at home but then neither did Dean, which makes me wonder whether these friends are real friends or just friends of convenience. Hermione never mentioned receiving letters from friends either, she always says her letters are from her parents but I just assumed that she didn't have friends in her old school since she knew nothing about how to treat a friend and her behaviour would've driven the other students away just like it does at Hogwarts. Speaking of hearing from people, I haven't heard from Ron or Hermione. I did hear from Neville though, and he knows where I am, which surprised me. He wrote to the three of us together, because he said that he didn't think that I was getting the letters that he only sent to me. He's right I hadn't been and he hadn't received the letter I sent to him either, so I had Dean help me send a letter back to him which he got. I don't know why we didn't get each other's earlier letters and I wonder if the same thing is happening to letters from Ron and Hermione or if they have bothered to send me any. I'm not going to ask for Dean or Seamus' help to write to them though. I don't trust either of them to not tell someone where I am. Or where I spent the summer. I feel a little guilty knowing that they might be trying to write to me and can't get through when I know of a way around that but I remind myself that it is not my fault I cannot trust them. I only hope that Hermione hasn't realised that she could look the Dursleys up in the phone book and try to ring me there. Heaven knows what they'd tell her, though they don't know where I am exactly either. She'd probably write to Dumbledore and tell him that I'm missing or something.**_

_To: Harry Potter email_

From: _Spencer Reid email_

_Saturday 7/4_/92 10:21pm (PST)

_I'm sorry if this letter is a bit incoherent it's hard to concentrate and to look at the computer with my head hurting so much. Mom's having a bad day, the worst she's had since I came home for the summer, she didn't recognise me at all and keeps insisting that Spencer is a small child. She called me William a couple of times, that's my Dad's name. I don't think that I look anything like him from his pictures and she didn't know him when he was my age, they met in graduate school when Dad was 22. She came after me with a fry pan, hit me in the head. It didn't bleed but it hurt an awful lot and I feel kind of sick and dizzy. Thank heavens it wasn't full of hot oil so I wasn't burnt this time but I think that I might have a concussion so I'm staying here in the library so if I do pass out someone will call the paramedics. I don't think that I'm going to pass out, I feel lousy but it isn't getting worse. I can't believe that you had to deal with this while you were a kid. _

To: _Spencer Reid email_

_From: __Harry Potter email_

Saturday 4/7/92 6:27pm (GMT)

_**Spencer what are you going to do? I wish I was there to try to heal your head for you but I'm not and you need help, I know you don't want to go to the hospital but you can't be on your own with a concussion. You shouldn't be using the computer or even reading for the next couple of days, you need to avoid too much visual and mental stimulation. You also need to avoid doing anything too physically strenuous. You really should see a doctor, even if it has to be one of the off the books clinics that you told me about. Concussion can get worse for up to two days Spencer. Just because you think that you're okay at the moment doesn't mean that you're going to be fine. Please go to the Doctor. You don't have to tell them who hit you or even what, you could claim to have lost your balance and fallen into a brick wall. You haven't been home for a couple of hours so even if they do think you're protecting someone with your history at school they won't think that you were injured by your mum, no need for anyone to investigate your home situation. **_

_To: Harry Potter email_

From: _Spencer Reid email_

_Saturday 7/4_/92 10:33pm (PST)

_You're right I will go now. _

To: _Spencer Reid email_

_From: __Harry Potter email_

Sunday 5/7/92 6:04pm (GMT)

_**Spencer. I hope that you are feeling better and that your memory and brain power hasn't been affected by the blow to your head.**_

_To: Harry Potter email_

From: _Spencer Reid email_

_Monday 7/6_/92 10:00pm (PST)

_Hi Harry, _

_I'm sorry that I upset you so much the other day. I'm fine now so please stop worrying._

_I still have a bit of a headache but I am much better, it isn't hurting me at all to sit and read or look at the computer. You were right to send me to the clinic, they were quite concerned with my head injury and even gave me an x-ray to check for a skull fracture. Don't worry I didn't have one, she didn't hit me that hard. I think that they bought my story of having caught up with school bullies and being shoved into a wall. _

_Mom is better too, she was asleep when I got home from the clinic, they kept me for the rest of the day until it started to get busy, about eleven at night and when they released me I was able to slip out without them realising that I was on my own and hadn't called for an adult to pick me up. Because Mom was asleep, I was able to give her an injection of her medications when I got home to make up for the ones she would have missed during the day when she wasn't well enough to take them and she woke up calm and knowing who I was. That's one of the best things about her new Doctor, when he found out I was capable of giving injections and had been giving Mom a sedative that way when she was out of control he gave me the injectable form of her medications with a stern warning not to give it to her unless I was absolutely sure she hadn't taken any of them for at least a day. My card counting ability comes in handy for being able to look at the bottle and know how many are in it without having to tip them out and count them each time. The medication injection does work a lot better than just sedating Mom and hoping I can convince her to take her regular medications when she wakes up. If I was here all the time I'd be tempted to give her all her medications this way and save the almost daily argument, but I don't know if I should give these injections to Aunt Ethel though, she isn't here all the time and sometimes Mom does have an episode even after taking her medication thought they aren't usually as extreme as this one and I wouldn't want to risk Aunt Ethel giving her an overdose, Doctor Howe agreed that it wouldn't be the best option. She did talk to me about the possibility of a slow release medication that could be injected every three weeks but I'm not sure how that would work. I wouldn't be able to do it and neither would Aunt Ethel, a nurse would have to come from the clinic or the hospital and the Doctor admitted that usually these patients are on it because the alternative is institutionalization and they don't have a choice in receiving the injection, it would be done by force if required. I don't want to put Mom through that if I can avoid it._

_The house was a huge mess when I got home, Mom had pretty much destroyed the place looking for government mind control devices or something, she'd even tipped out all the ingredients in the pantry. I managed to get most of it cleaned up so the mess didn't set her off again and she has no memory of that day, which was a problem as well because she's now upset with herself at losing track of what day it is again. Thank heavens that she never can bring herself to destroy books but most of the rest of my things are ruined. Luckily, I put a lot of my clothes and textbooks and my bedding and things for college into storage rather than bringing them home. I half expected this to happen and didn't want to lose all my stuff again. For one thing I really couldn't afford to replace it all, for the other I've got used to being able to keep my things safe and have grown attached to knowing that they're going to be there when I get home. I think that's the saddest thing about the last few days. I've realised that I don't think of the house I grew up in as home anymore. Home is now Caltech, my classes and my dorm house and my roommate Ethan._

To: _Spencer Reid email_

_From: __Harry Potter email_

Monday 6/7/92 6:13pm (GMT)

_**I'm so glad that you're okay, and that your mum is better. I'm kind of sorry that she doesn't remember what happened, maybe if she did, she would be more careful not to forget her medications and it would be easier to talk her into taking them when she didn't want to. I understand you not wanting to have to be injected against her will but she really might do better on the long acting medications. The one's she's on now can't be working well if she has so many days when she refuses to take them.**_

_**I understand that you're sad that you've lost your home but you're lucky to have found a new one and I don't blame you for loving Caltech, from all you've told me, you belong there and you feel safe there. I only wish I could find a place that I could think of as home. I had hopes at the start of last year that Hogwarts could be my home and I do feel like I belong there most of the time, but I can't think of it that way after all the times I was in danger and all the times I've questioned whether I can trust the people who claim to be my friends and the professors who are supposed to keep us all safe. The restaurant was the closest thing I've had to feeling like a home but it wasn't because I always knew I had to be careful not to wear out my welcome.**_

_**The Thomas's apartment is the first real home I've felt welcome in and it feels really good but I'm very aware it isn't my home no matter how nice everyone is, I know they're doing it for Dean's sake. I'm glad he has such a nice family, and that he appreciates them. He's close to his stepfather and sisters though he finds looking after them frustrating at times but he totally adores his mother. I've never had much to do with younger children but the girls are kind of fun, we take them to the park most mornings. They're not spoiled brats, they share toys with each other and they don't whine when Dean tells them he hasn't got the money to buy them ice-cream even when their friends get some.**_

_**After Mr or Mrs Thomas get home to look after the girls we mostly go to the arcade or the pool, or just hang out in the park or at the shops. Dean doesn't say it but I think he feels that he needs to get out of the house and let the girls have some time alone with their mum and dad, as well as needing a break away from the girls. Dean's dad loves watching the cricket and Dean says his mum is just as bad watching Tennis during Wimbledon so we try to be out or quiet as much as possible while they're watching those on TV.**_

_**Seamus and Dean and Dean's friends spend a lot of time watching the older girls in their short skirts or their bikinis, though they don't pay much attention to the girls our age most of the time, I don't mind looking at them they are less intimidating than the pictures in Seamus' magazines, but they really aren't that interesting and I don't want to be caught looking. Looking at the older boys isn't interesting either so I think that you're right I'm just not old enough yet. Dean and Seamus are both more than six months older than me and they don't give me a hard time for not watching, so it's all good. I don't think that I'd want to risk them catching me watching boys though. One of Dean's friends is gay, Dean's cool with it but Seamus was shocked. He explained to us that such things are not accepted in the wizarding world, or actually what he said was that gay wizards don't exist. I don't think that can be true that they don't exist at all, there's no reason why having magic should influence feelings like that so I guess it's just that anyone who is gay is very careful not to let people find out. That would make it very difficult to find a boyfriend though so I don't know how that would work. I guess most muggleborns would just date in the nonmagical world if they needed to but purebloods couldn't walk down the street in the nonmagical world without everyone thinking they are part of some weird cult.**_

_To: Harry Potter email_

From: _Spencer Reid email_

_Tuesday 7/7_/92 10:09pm (PST)

_In your letter a couple of days ago you were complaining about the possibility of Hermione telling Dumbledore that you were missing. I know you think she'd be interfering but that's because you know that you're not missing and that you're safe with the Thomas's but if you had been kidnapped by whoever put you back in the Dursleys' house to be abused then you would want someone to worry about you and to contact the authorities. She has no reason to know that you're safe and I don't think that it's occurred to her that you would deliberately not tell her you weren't going to your relatives for the summer. Of course, if it was Dumbledore behind everything then telling him wouldn't do any good and could actually put Hermione in danger of having her memory interfered with, but Hermione doesn't know that you don't trust him let alone the reasons why you don't. I know she doesn't know because you don't trust her enough to tell her but you can't blame her for acting in good faith in what she truly believes is your best interests. _

_It is an unsolvable problem but be careful not to punish her too harshly for something that isn't her fault._

To: _Spencer Reid email_

_From: __Harry Potter email_

Tuesday 7/7/92 6:16pm (GMT)

_**You're right about Hermione and I will try to be nice to her when I see her again and to be careful only to blame her for things she's knowingly doing. But if I do get into Salem or Ilvermorny then I probably won't see her again anyway. I can't try to keep in touch with her even if I really wanted to. **_

_**I would regret not being able to keep in touch with Neville and Dean but Dean will understand if I don't write to him at school, and I could contact him by email over the holidays. I guess that he would willingly pass on a letter or message to Neville as well but Neville probably lives in a house without electricity or telephone, much less the ability to get a computer with internet access and email.**_

_To: Harry Potter email_

From: _Spencer Reid email_

_Tuesday 7/7_/92 10:26pm (PST)

_I hadn't considered that. Not wanting anyone to track you down really means you shouldn't keep in contact with anyone from Hogwarts or Little Whinging. Though it might be safe to write to the restaurant if you've been keeping in contact, since nobody seems to know about your visits there._

_You could ask Mr Thomas to forward you letters from Dean, Seamus and Neville during the term, I'm sure she would if you continued to supply her with stamps and envelopes but I'm not sure how safe it would be, whether all three of them would be able to keep the secret that at least Mrs Thomas and probably Dean know where you are, it might be safer to restrict yourself to email and then have Dean or Seamus print out a letter to Neville each time they're home. Then even though you're in contact the only thing that they could give out would be your email address, which even if someone knew how to use it wouldn't tell anyone other than someone expert in tracking down people electronically anything about where you actually are._

A/N2: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

A/N3: I wish everyone the best in this time. Please stay safe and keep your distance, stay at home if you can. I'm very concerned that the UK and the US and some other countries are raising the restrictions too soon, putting the economy above people's health and lives.


	89. Chapter 89

**Chapter 89**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

A/N Spencer and Harry enjoyed being able to email and used it to have a long conversations with each other almost every day. I will just include the more important parts.

To: _Spencer Reid email_

_From: __Harry Potter email_

Wednesday 8/7/92 6:03pm (GMT)

_**Dear Spencer**_

_**I have bad news. The headmistress of Ilvermorny can't or won't accept me as a student without transfer paperwork signed by the Headmaster or Deputy Headmistress of my current school. I haven't heard back from Salem Academy yet, but it is a separate school, Ilvermorny is actually in Ontario Canada on an island in the middle of Lake Nipogon not in Massachusetts, though they do take American and international students and is still considered to be one of the premier schools of magic for America, but I expect the Salem headmaster or headmistress probably going to say the same thing, that I need transcripts to be accepted. I've sent a request to McGonagall to send me the transcripts, but I just know that Dumbledore and McGonagall are never going to send them to me, and even if McGonagall does it will mean that Dumbledore will know that I have to go back to the Dursleys to collect the paperwork since I didn't want to tell McGonagall what school to send it to directly. If he's the one behind me being returned to the Dursleys after being beaten half to death he's too invested in manipulating my life to just let me leave. I wrote back to the Headmistress of Ilvermorny and told her that I didn't think that Hogwarts would willingly send my transcripts and that I was willing to start first year again if it meant I could come to her school. I'm waiting to hear back but I didn't want to offer them money from my vault otherwise they might decide to try to force me to hand over my key so they could take the lot.**_

_**On a more positive note, swimming lessons are finally starting to go well, I can now swim freestyle from one end of the pool to the other, though Seamus says it still looks more like flailing than swimming, but I still can't float properly, well I can float for as long as I can hold my breath but I float about 15 centimetres underneath the water. Dean and Seamus both think that it's hilarious but I think it's like you said, that it's because I don't have enough body fat. I thought that I was doing better and I've definitely grown and put on weight but obviously not enough. I am getting a tan though and I look healthy. We go to Seamus's at the end of the week and he lives near the coast so he says that he will convince his Dad to take us one day and teach me to swim in the sea. He says that it's very different in the waves. Dean is looking forward to going to the beach too. Dean's also looking forward to going to Seamus's, he says that he loves being home but it will be nice to see all the places that Seamus talks about and not to have to babysit every day. Not that they're bad kids, it's just a big thing to be responsible for their care and safety.**_

_**How's your mum this morning. Did your dinner go well last night, whatever it was? Why wouldn't you tell me?**_

_To: Harry Potter email_

From: _Spencer Reid email_

_Wednesday 7/8_/92 10:09pm (PST)

_Dear Harry_

_If you can't float on the surface of the water it means you're still too underweight to be healthy. I know that you're not used to eating a lot but you need to keep trying to increase your food intake. Otherwise, it will impact your health as you grow older. You probably should see a healer, one that's not working at Hogwarts, since they don't seem to have done anything to fix the problem while you were in the infirmary last year._

_I'm sure the principal of a school wouldn't steal from potential students but nor should they be amenable to bribing into accepting students so it's probably still a good thing that you didn't offer money. It is disappointing that they won't accept you without a school transcript but I can't say that I am surprised. I'm sorry I didn't think of that and warn you before this. Did you send them a copy of your end of year report? That might help if you cannot get a transcript. Unfortunately, I doubt that the school would be keen to have a student repeat a year that they do not academically need to. Bored students are usually among the worst troublemakers in a class and if you spent the year reading ahead then you'd only continue the problem for the following year as well._

_I am excited about the idea of you being here during the school year, but what will you do over the summer? You probably won't be invited to spend time with your Hogwarts friends and I doubt you'd be invited to spend the summer with your new friends either, they'd expect you to want to go home unless you told them about the abuse which I assume will be a lot less obvious now that you've been away from the Dursleys and eating properly and only doing age appropriate chores for the whole year. I would love to have you here for the summer, or better yet at Caltech if I can spend next summer taking classes. There are much less people in the house during summer semester, you'd still need to hide the fact you were living with me and not just visiting but I'm sure we could manage so long as Ethan doesn't stay for the summer as well, and even if he did I'm sure we could work something out somehow._

_I'm glad that you're enjoying the time you spent at Dean's even if you don't enjoy babysitting, I don't think that I would either, the only person younger than me I've ever been able to relate to is you. Are you looking forward to going to Seamus' in Ireland? Will you stay there the rest of the summer? Can you either stay there or go back to Deans? Will you have access to the internet at Seamus' house or will you send me his address so we can correspond my mail without the extra delay of going through an intermediary. I will really miss being able to write back and forth immediately like a conversation._

_Mom is doing well now with her new doctor, she trusts them and I'm a lot more confident that I can leave again at the start of the term which I had started to worry about while she was having so many extremely bad days because she didn't trust the medication. I must admit that I'm looking forward to going back to classes, though with Mom doing so well lately I have been enjoying spending quality time with her too. _

_I made the lamb casserole from your cookbook last night, it's the most complicated thing I've ever made but it turned out really great, just as well because I think we'll be eating it for the next three days. I didn't stop to consider that you were cooking for two hippopotamuses when you made the recipe, next time I try something I will halve the ingredients but would that affect the cooking time? I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about it but I wanted to see if I could do it on my own._

To: _Spencer Reid email_

_From: __Harry Potter email_

Thursday 9/7/92 6:16pm (GMT)

_**Since I wrote to you last, I have sent an application to every English speaking School of magic and the Italian and French schools since I think I can speak those languages well enough to get by until I learn more. Even if I don't, there's probably a magical way to translate stuff and spells will still be mostly in Latin. **_

_**Having all those applications should make it more difficult for someone to find me. They'd have to put in a real effort and at least slow him down, particularly if my new headmaster or headmistress was willing to take my concerns seriously and deny me being there. I've been as honest about why I feel the need to transfer schools as I feel I can be without making the new headmasters think that I'm exaggerating the problems at Hogwarts.**_

_**The problem is that all the other schools of magic are probably the same as Ilvermorny and I don't think any of them will take me without transfer paperwork but I figured that asking for a certified copy of the paperwork for half a dozen schools would at least show McGonagall that I was determined to leave without drawing attention to my correspondence with you and putting you at risk. The thing is though that if someone questions when I sent the applications they'll notice that I sent them to Salem and Ilvermorny first, so that America likely the first place they will look for me, therefore I think that I should probably choose a different school. Hopefully McGonagall will send the transfer to me so I can copy it and send it anywhere I want to go.**_

_**I took your advice and included a copy of my school report so hopefully one of these schools will consider accepting me without a transcript, I hate to say it but it's likely to be Beauxbatons in the south of France since they're close enough to have felt the threat of Voldemort in the last war and to have heard of the-boy-who-lived. I'm not really happy about using my fame about my parent's deaths to break a rule to be accepted but it would still probably be safer than returning to Hogwarts.**_

_**The main attraction of Ilvermorny and Salem is that they're in the same continent as you are. From the book none of the schools sound much different to each other, in fact I found myself wondering whether the author had actually visited all these schools or even spoken to students or staff or whether they'd just collated the information brochures into a book. After I wondered that I read the section on Hogwarts and it seemed much more comprehensive than any other section but the book was published in England so the author probably went to Hogwarts themselves. He certainly used Hogwarts as the ideal, describing how the other schools failed to measure up to the Hogwarts standard but not one single comment about how any of the schools might be better at something or criticism of Hogwarts. So, I can't really judge their merits accurately. Hopefully the places I applied for will send me a brochure on the school so I can get some more accurate information to base my decision.**_

_**How is your summer going? Have you finished the work for your correspondence subjects yet? What are you working on now? How is your mum? Have you had any trouble with the kids from high school?**_

_**Things are still going well here with the Thomas'. Mrs and Mr Thomas have been amazing taking us in like this for weeks and Dean and Seamus and I are getting along better than ever, I was worried that having me around all the time would start to get on their nerves because we've never hung out very much at Hogwarts but it hasn't. I took your advice and asked Dean if Ron had said anything to try and prevent us from being friends at school and he said he hadn't said anything about me but he made it clear that he didn't want him and Seamus hanging around the two of us when we're together. I told Dean that Ron wasn't my best friend in spite of what he thought, and that I would rather hang around with him and Seamus than Ron or Hermione but I didn't know how to persuade them of that when Ron keeps deciding he's my best friend even when he hasn't been speaking to me for a week sometimes. I mentioned that I thought he either has memory problems or some ulterior motive for wanting to be my friend but I didn't want to bring up the idea that someone else might be using magic to make him stay friends with me. It seems too farfetched to tell people even though with everything that has happened I'm more and more sure that it's true. I haven't heard from Ron or Hermione at all this summer, so I think that the influence may have worn off. This might be a good chance to visit them and see how they really feel about me but I don't want them to know that I'm not trapped at the Dursleys like whoever tries to keep me there wants.**_

_**Seamus has been using the internet to write to his Mum and Dad so they definitely have a computer but I don't know whether I will be able to use it to chat with you or whether I will need to go to the public library which would mean we could write back and forth most days but with the time difference both our libraries are highly unlikely to be open at the same time. Still I'm hoping for the best and I did get money converted at Gringotts when we went to buy my own computer if I can get one that fits in my trunk. I'll look for one near Seamus' house if I can't use theirs.**_

_To: Harry Potter email_

From: _Spencer Reid email_

_Thursday 7/9_/92 10:24pm (PST)

_I've been reading up on Genetics, one of the Biology subjects I thought about taking to better understand the risks of me developing schizophrenia. It is an interesting subject but I think that I'm too emotionally invested in the topic to actually take the course. They are making some progress at isolating gene sequences that are present in people with a particular genetic deficit but of course the more simple ones caused by a particular gene without environmental aspects are easier to identify and more research is being put into things like brain cancers, breast cancer, childhood illnesses than into schizophrenia at this time. One thing that they have managed to determine though is that there doesn't seem to be one particular gene that causes schizophrenia in 100% of people who have that gene. There are other things life events, perhaps chemicals in the environment or contaminants in food, particular medications that increase the risks and the end result is probably a result of several of those things. Which means there is no definite test that can tell me whether or not I will one day suffer from schizophrenia, nor is there likely to be one developed anytime soon, but it also means that there is a good chance that I won't, especially if I avoid certain triggers like recreational drugs. I wish there was a way for me to know if Mom tried taking drugs while she was at university but I don't want to ask her. There wasn't the stigma against experimenting with marijuana back then that there is now because they didn't know how bad it could be for you. Mom wouldn't want to admit it to me now even if she did, it would be like telling me that it's her fault she got sick, when I know it wouldn't have been if she didn't know the risks. I wouldn't blame her for doing what all her friends were doing when they all thought it was safe. It's a scary thought though that something we all think is safe could be doing us harm and we won't find out before it's too late._

_I finished my correspondence work; it was a bit disappointing. The work was interesting enough but if I was learning it on my own, I wouldn't have had to waste time writing the essays and completing quizzes. There was an online discussion group. Well a group email but it hasn't been used as much as I had hoped. I was glad to be able to finish it and move on to self study._

_Will Professor McGonagall know which schools you have applied for if you actually asked her to send you the paperwork so you could forward it to the schools? And why do you need multiple copies of the paperwork, couldn't you take it to the library and photocopy it? Or is it some magic thing?_

_I don't think that you should waste your money on a computer unless you're sure that it will work inside Hogwarts, but do you know that for certain it won't, and they just want you to think that you can't use electronics because of the bias against things from the nonmagical world, or so they didn't have to go to the expense of wiring the castle for electricity and paying the bill. It would be easy enough to tell everyone that and nobody would try to bring electronics to test it, of course if there really isn't anywhere in the castle that has electricity you will find it impossible to use. I am sure that they will eventually build a computer that runs on batteries, though I don't think that they have yet. They will need to make a more powerful battery first for it to work, and you would still need to find a way to charge the batteries or get more. I'm also not sure how well batteries would live in a highly magical environment, they don't do well near magnets and things which might be why people say electrical things don't work at the school._

To: _Spencer Reid email_

_From: __Harry Potter email_

Thursday 9/7/92 6:08pm (GMT)

_**I heard from McGonagall. She wrote that she cannot send my transfer paperwork without a request from my guardians. I have written to Petunia explaining that I wanted her to send a letter to Professor McGonagall asking for her to send my transfer forms to me to send on to the schools I've applied for and that if I got into one of them I would never return to their house or make contact with them ever again. I even typed and printed the letter for her, and sent it with my request via normal mail to be sure she reads it. All she has to do is sign it and send it to the school when Hedwig arrives and not throw out Professor McGonagall's reply, if it comes to her instead of directly to me. I hope that the thought of never seeing me again is enough to get her to sign it in spite of the fact I clearly want her to and that she's not petty enough to refuse just because it will keep me at a school it's clear I don't want to go to. I thought about asking her to send it via muggle post to me to send in but I didn't want the Dursleys to know where I am if the letter makes Dumbledore or someone go there looking for me and we will be going to Ireland soon. The problem is that I'm running out of time. I very much doubt that Petunia will send the letter to Hogwarts and Professor McGonagall will reply for her in time for me to collect the transcripts from Surrey before we go to Ireland if she sends to them to Petunia and I'm afraid it might be too late to be accepted for this year by the time we get back. Hopefully McGonagall will send the transcripts directly to me by owl, but if it's Petunia asking for them, I'm not sure what she will do.**_

_**I think it is a magic thing that you can't use photocopies of the transcripts, the schools ask for original copies of your school transcript made and signed by a professor. I think that they might have some way of checking that I haven't altered it to make myself look better that they couldn't use with a photocopy.**_

_**I'm sorry that you now have all these doubts about your mum's schizophrenia. I don't really understand the subject well enough to offer advice. All I can do is tell you that I believe you will make the right decision about whether to ask your mum about whether she experimented with drugs in college. Remember though that when she's having a good day her first concern is about you. It would break her heart if she thought you would turn on her because her Schizophrenia started because of drugs. But she also worries about you when she can, you need to make sure she understands you're asking because of something you've read, not because you've tried drugs yourself or are thinking about doing it. Especially if she did experiment with the wrong drug and she's afraid that you will give yourself schizophrenia too.**_

_To: Harry Potter email_

From: _Spencer Reid email_

_Thursday 7/9_/92 10:16pm (PST)

_Mom and I had a great day yesterday, the best she's been in ages. We went out shopping to all the second hand bookstores in Vegas and found some great bargains, then we had lunch at Binions, the chicken fried lobster there is probably my favourite dinner food ever. After lunch we drove out into the desert and walked a little and sat in the shade of a bluff and read to each other, eating sandwiches and cake. We got back in time for dinner and cooked together. She showed me how to make one of her favourite dishes. I can't help wishing that tomorrow will be like that too but it would take a miracle for it to last more than a day or two. I thought about asking her about what she did in college but I couldn't bear to risk ruining our day. I guess somethings just aren't worth asking._

_I know you're disappointed but I understand why Professor McGonagall wanted your guardians to ask for the transcripts, most children don't have the ability to make decisions to study internationally by themselves and any request they made to transfer would probably be spur of the moment and they'd likely change their minds as soon as they got there and started missing their friends. I know you're not most people and Professor McGonagall should know that too but I am sure that Vernon and Petunia would be more than happy to sign the letter to Professor McGonagall if it means that they don't have to have you live with them anymore. Though I also expect that they missed your help with the cooking and cleaning and house maintenance more than they expected to, so maybe they will want you back for a couple of weeks to do the things they've been putting off. _

A/N2: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

A/N3: I wish everyone the best in this time. Please stay safe and keep your distance, stay at home if you can.


	90. Chapter 90

**Chapter****90**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

To: _Spencer Reid email_

_From: __Harry Potter email_

Friday 10/7/92 6:04pm (GMT)

_**McGonagall wrote to me again today, explaining that I needed my magical guardian to sign the transfer request. Apparently Petunia did send her the letter but it isn't good enough because she's only my aunt and muggle guardian. She sounded quite apologetic, but then again, it's easy to portray false sentiment in a letter, you have all the time in the world to think about and plan what you want to say and how you want to say it. I sent back a furious letter asking her how I would find out who my magical guardian is because I don't have a bloody clue and how unfair it was that someone who has never spoken to me or done a damn thing for me should have the power to stop me from going to a school that was safe. I exaggerated the dangers that I'd experienced at Hogwarts last year, but only a little. I'm an eleven year old kid and three times in a single year is far too many to be in life threatening danger. I also threatened to put an ad in 'The Daily Prophet' requesting that my magical guardian agree transfer me to another school explaining exactly why I felt attending Hogwarts was too dangerous and why I had to use the newspaper to ask my guardian for a simple request because they have never done their duty as guardian, never contacted me and I don't know who they are. I think with my fame they would make front page news over an advertisement request like that. Of course, I already know from the goblins that Dumbledore is or was my magical guardian but he's never said or done anything to intimate that he's more than the headmaster of the school to me, but McGonagall doesn't need to know that. I'd need to talk to the goblins and explain why I was pretending not to know before I contacted the newspaper. Goblins don't like dishonesty and I wouldn't want to lose their trust or for them to think that I didn't believe what they told me. I will go back to the bank and find out if they've appointed an alternative magical guardian for me or what they've done but I don't really want to tell McGonagall that Dumbledore's been removed from being my magical guardian, I'm sure she'd go straight to him and tell him. I am afraid of what he will do if he finds out before I can get away.**_

_**Problem is that I virtually promised Petunia that if she wrote the letter for me to go to an international school, I wouldn't come back to Privet Drive again so they're going to be really pissed off if I have to go back there. Not that I want to go back, but if I can't get away from Hogwarts then I can't guarantee I'll find a new place to stay and I can't depend on my classmates to house me for the whole summer.**_

_**I also sent an application for the school in Mexico to start as a first year. I know I will struggle with the language unless there is a magical way to learn it but I figured repeating first year where I'm mostly going to be learning things I've already learnt in English would be an excellent way to get up to speed in Spanish and the local native language as well. Not to mention that as a first year I don't need any school transcripts from Hogwarts. I have asked Petunia to collect my school transcripts from Little Whinging primary to send them when they ask and claim to have taken a year off formal schooling to travel.**_

_**I'm glad you and your mum got to have a great day out. Hopefully it is a sign that the new medication is working and she'll start to have more good days more often. It sounds like a lovely way to spend the day. I love second had bookshops and reading in the sun.**_

_To: Harry Potter email_

From: _Spencer Reid email_

Friday 7/10/92 10:20pm (PST)

_Your application to the Mexican school sounds like a great idea to get around the need for transcripts from last year and to take the pressure off while you learn not one but two new languages. It would be good if you can get some taped lessons on Spanish to get started on the language then at least you'd know the basics of one of them, I don't think you'll be able to find anything to help you learn the other one until you get there. Like Italian, Spanish is also a Latin-based language so already being able to speak both of those should make it relatively easy to learn._

_The other wonderful thing about the Mexican school is even though it is in another country it is easily the closest school to Caltech and you should hopefully be able to visit me fairly easily. I don't know if you would need a visa to visit America using magic but given that you aren't actually Mexican it shouldn't be too hard to get one if you need it. There are a lot of Mexican immigrants in California, some legal and some not so there are also lots of illegal ways to get into the country but I don't think that many of them would be safe for a twelve year old on their own and there are a lot of unscrupulous people making money off helping' Mexican's sneak across the border. I would hate to see you get mixed up with any of those. If you can't visit me then I will come and spend the weekend with you. It wouldn't be any further to travel than going home to spend time with Mom._

_I know that it hurts to think that the Dursleys refuse to take you back Harry but it might be a good thing if you're no longer welcome in your Aunt and Uncle's home. Dumbledore cannot send you back there if they won't agree so someone will have to find you a new home. I think that you should ask the goblins or find out if the ministry of magic has a child protection department or orphanage. A magical orphanage might be just the thing, you can still go to school during the year and spend the summers there. Of course, that means staying at Hogwarts which isn't a good thing. But if they're overcrowded then maybe they'd be happy to transfer you to an international school._

_Have you thought about going back to Gringotts and asking what has happened with your magical guardian. Did they only remove Dumbledore's access to your money or did they manage to your account manager appointed as your financial guardian? And if they did is he also your guardian for non financial matters or is that still Dumbledore? I suppose that still wouldn't be enough for Professor McGonagall because though the goblins might be magical she might say you need a witch or a wizard as a magical guardian._

To: _Spencer Reid email_

_From: __Harry Potter email_

Friday 10/7/92 6:07pm (GMT

_**We're going to Seamus' place tomorrow. We're to catch the train to **__**Liverpool, the bus to Heysham**__** and then the ferry to Dublin and Seamus' Dad will pick us up from there. Mrs Thomas wanted to catch the train with us and put us on the ferry herself but Mr Thomas has convinced her that we are old enough to travel alone together. We leave here at six am and will be travelling most of the day so don't worry if you don't hear from me. Seamus said that I should be able to email you from the public library down the road if he can't set me up with access to the computer at his place. I'm looking forward to seeing a bit of Liverpool and Ireland, not that we will see much from the train. I'm not looking forward to the ferry ride though, the last time I was on a boat on the ocean I felt sick the whole time. His parents live in the south and Seamus said that it's safe from the troubles in Northern Ireland.**_

_**I didn't think to check in with Gringotts what happened regarding my magical guardian, and it's too late now, I can't get to London until I get back from Seamus' place a couple of weeks before we're due to go back to school. But I don't think that the Goblins have much power to do things outside their bank. I don't really understand how witches and wizards can trust Gringotts bank to look after all their money and stuff when they think so poorly of goblins in general and are so rude to them most of the time too. Of course, the goblins probably have their own culture, just like some things are rude in the wizarding world that aren't in the nonmagical world and vice versa, so maybe people aren't being rude to them but treating them like they would expect in their culture. I haven't seen enough goblins talking to each other to know if that is how they normally communicate.**_

_**There was a story on the news about massive storms in America. I only caught part of it and my American geography is a bit shaky at best. Are you and your mum okay? Are the storms anywhere near you? Or are they near Caltech and will make returning to school at the end of the summer difficult? How is your mum? Still having mostly good days I hope. Is she helping you learn to cook on your better days, there's really no better way to learn than to have someone to tell you where you went wrong.**_

_To: Harry Potter email_

From: _Spencer Reid email_

Friday 7/10/92 10:12pm (PST)

_You're right to think that goblins probably do have a different culture and set of manners than wizards or nonmagical people but you might be making a mistake if that assumption led you to being rude to them. Even if issuing demands instead of making requests and not using greetings or please and thankyou is part of their culture, and there's no guarantee that it is, they work with wizards all day long so they would be well aware that the majority of wizards are ignorant of their culture and intending to be deliberately rude. Keep in mind also that only ten percent of any interaction is the words you use, your body language, facial expressions and tone of voice convey a great deal of information on how you're feeling about the person you're talking to and the things your talking about. As they say, actions speak louder than words so watch the goblins body language and actions, they may have some other way of showing respect to each other. I know you're adept at noticing that sort of thing from your study into deductions. So use that, deduce the goblins to work out what behaviours they appreciate or are annoyed by in their customers. Remember when you were hanging out in the restaurant kitchen that the staff were very different with each other than how they acted and spoke out in the restaurant with and in front of the customers._

_I'd tell you to ask your friend Mr Blott for a book on goblin culture but to be honest you'd probably be better asking your account manager, at least he'd know which books were the most accurate. Especially since accuracy doesn't seem to be a requirement for nonfiction books in the wizarding world. If they can get things so wrong about you, I wouldn't trust their explanation of another culture, and you were complaining that your book about wizarding schools was highly biased too. There is always some bias in a book from the author's experiences and point of view but a truly great nonfiction author seeks to keep that bias to a minimum or at least attempts to present other points of view as well. _

_We were nowhere near the storm it was over 1,000 miles from Las Vegas, everything is fine. Yes Mom has been trying to help me learn to cook. Some days that's great and she shows me things and taught me some basic meals she used to make for us. I've written them down so I can make them again. Other days it worries me to have her that close to the knives and boiling saucepans. Even the days she's just a bit disorganised and not likely to become violent make me uneasy. I've had several nightmares remembering the night she threw boiling oil at me, in my dreams either you weren't there and they became huge and infected or I didn't manage to turn away and she got me in the face blinding me or making my throat swell which suffocated me and I lay there dying in the dark as she screamed out looking for the real me._

_Where in Ireland does Seamus live, is it in a city or the country and is it anywhere near the coast? At least you will see the sea from the ferry even if you don't get to spend time on the beach, and a bit of the country travelling to the ferry and then to Seamus' house. You might not feel sick on the ferry, last time you were on a small boat immediately before and after a storm. The ferry will be huge, it won't be rocked by the waves so easily and you'll be able to walk around. You might find you like it, even if you don't it will be a very different experience than that small boat that Vernon should never have been allowed to take out into the storm the way he did._

To: _Spencer Reid email_

_From: __Harry Potter email_

Friday 10/7/92 6:14pm (GMT)

_**I am so sorry! I never thought that encouraging you to learn to cook while you're at home would bring back so many bad memories and nightmares. I never would have suggested it or given you that cook book if I'd known you had so many bad memories of cooking or watching your mum cook in that kitchen. **_

_**I don't know how to help you other than to remind you that it didn't happen, you were able to get away and I managed to heal your burns. The whole thing ended up okay and your mum didn't mean to hurt you. And you've been telling me that she's better now, that she hasn't had an episode like that since she started on her new medication. **_

_**I guess I could send you some great salad recipes and things that don't use hot oil but you've got a lot of them, and there aren't really many ways you can make a healthy meal without using a knife or cooking.**_

_**If it helps any, I have had nightmares of that night too, though nothing as vivid as yours. I used to dream that I woke up realised that I'd only dreamed healing you. That either I'd failed to heal you and you'd had to go into the hospital and then into foster care and I'd never seen you again, or I had healed you and you'd freaked out about me using my power on you and kicked me out of the hideout and never spoken to me again. Those dreams broke my heart. I don't know what I would have done the past two and a half years without your friendship.**_

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

I wish everyone the best in this time. Please stay safe and keep your distance, stay at home if you can.


	91. Chapter 91

**Chapter****91**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

A/N: I have changed the dates of letters and emails from Chapter 83 onwards to make this chapter earlier in the summer because I had too much to fit in before September 1st.

To: Spencer Reid

From: Harry Potter

Saturday 11/7/92 6:04pm (GMT)

_**We're at Seamus' place now and his mum is a witch, though his father is nonmagical and as you can tell from the fact that I'm sending you this letter late at night, they live in a mostly nonmagical home with normal technology, so I can access email here too, as you can tell. The Finnnegans are happy for me to use their computer every night after we finish cleaning up after dinner and our chores so it will be an hour or so later than when we were at Dean's. I asked her about the electronics because Hogwarts told us they wouldn't work around magic and she says that the magic she and the kids do doesn't seem to affect the electronics in the house so long as they don't cast spells directly at the TV or computer so she's not sure why a computer wouldn't work at Hogwarts if they wired it for electricity, but she doesn't have a way to make one work without electricity. She also hasn't ruled out the possibility that Hogwarts has deliberately set wards to stop radio's and battery operated electronics from working. She suggested that it may have been done as a way to keep the wizard raised ignorant about the benefits of the muggle world, to help the pureblood minority maintain their sense of superiority, and that the school she went to had no problems with radios and cassette players, they even had a television room.**_

_**I asked her about what you said about the hideout seeming to be protected and she said that the only magic that can keep a house or place safe from pests and intruders like that would be wards but they are very complicated high level advanced magic, not all witches and wizards are even capable of casting them. I don't think I could have done it with accidental magic. Mrs Finnegan had never heard of anyone being able to cast long lasting accidental magic, she said that it normally wears off in an hour or so no matter what you've done. So perhaps there was a wizard in that room in the past that cast the charms, perhaps when the building was actually in use, or maybe if someone did come to investigate the accidental magic I cast there the first time they would have seen me there alone and might have cast some basic wards to try to keep me safe. Though if they cared enough to do that, I don't know why they wouldn't have taken me in and tried to find out why I was out on the streets alone at night at that age. Still I know British wizards don't seem to do anything the sensible way so maybe American wizards are the same and it didn't occur to them that a nine year old kid on his own needed more than just a few wards to give him a safe place to sleep whether they were magical or not.**_

_**Apparently, there are lots of different wards available, and the wards on the Dursleys were definitely deliberately set to harm me like the goblins inferred they were. One of Mrs Finnegan's sisters who was there when we arrived is a ward caster and when I asked her about the wards on the Dursleys, she could see no positive reason for casting wards like that except to harm me, there was no protective benefits for having them that way. Wards like that are normally used on prison cells and patients whose magic has fractured and is violently out of control, not kids who are just trying to protect themselves. The wards here on the farm protect the family and guests on the farm, the buildings the animals without taking any magic from anyone to do all that.**_

_**You were right, I did like the ferry ride and it was great to be able to walk around out in the fresh air and watch the water rush by after the hours cooped up in the train. Mr Finnegan met us and we had fish and chips fresh off the docks and walked along the shore of the inlet a bit before getting in the car. The Finnegans live within about twenty minutes walk from a small town Glendalough in County Wicklow just over an hour's drive south of Dublin. It's very pretty and rural. A bit like Hogwarts though nowhere near as cold. There's a ruined castle here too, but Seamus assures me that this one is genuinely fallen into ruins and not just warded to look like that to people without magic like Hogwarts is. He said that it's also genuinely haunted but I think he's having us on. What sort of ghost would want to hang around a bunch of old rocks by themselves, haunting nonmagical people who can't even see him?**_

To: Harry Potter

From: Spencer Reid

_Saturday 7/_11/92 10:15am (PST)

_Hi Harry_

_I'm glad that the Finnegans are okay with you using their computer to email me so we can be available at the same time to 'talk'. What are they like, are they nice people? It was nice of them to let their son stay with his friends and then have friends over to stay. I would have thought that they'd want him home as soon as possible after his first year at boarding school. It must have been hard for Mrs Thomas to let Dean go to Ireland too, when they have so little time with him during the school year. They care a lot about their sons' happiness._

_From what Mrs Finnegan said about wards I can't help but think that you or someone somehow did cast protective wards on the hideout in spite of the fact she said it wasn't possible to do it with accidental magic. You've been doing things with wandless magic that you've been told is impossible for years now. Maybe the wards were there before I met you, because I always felt safe there even when I didn't feel safe anywhere else, though that feeling got stronger after you stayed there so you're accidental magic reactivated or strengthened the wards. But that definitely means that whoever set the wards at the Dursleys is definitely your enemy and the fact that Dumbledore insisted that you go back there makes him the most likely suspect, though his refusal to listen to you about your treatment there and the fact you never told him about what the wards were doing still makes it possible that he's just an egotistical fool who can't admit that he was ever wrong about anything. What I don't understand though is why whoever it was tried to weaken your magic and yet they healed you when you were nearly fatally injured. It would have been just as easy for him to make your injuries just a little worse and lock you in. With the new wards you wouldn't have been able to escape again or to heal yourself. You would have died and nobody would suspect that he had anything to do with it, for some reason he wanted you to live. Or perhaps wanted you to survive, is a better term since they didn't want you to grow healthy and strong. They took a big risk though, that Vernon wouldn't lose his temper and try to beat you to death again while they'd blocked your magic to the point that it couldn't protect you or try to keep you alive long enough to get out of the house and get help. Is there a way that Vernon and Dudley could have been spelled not to want to beat you that badly again?_

_What Mrs Finnegan said also confirms that you should never go back to the Dursleys' house, in fact you should never even set foot in that neighbourhood since the wards were extended to include all the way to your elementary school. You need to find another place to stay. Can you stay with Seamus or Dean for the rest of the summer?_

To: Spencer Reid

From: Harry Potter

Saturday 11/7/92 6:21pm (GMT)

_**Seamus' house is very different from Dean's even though it's still mostly non-magical. It's an old farmhouse on land which his Dad's family have farmed for hundreds of years. Mr Finnegan says the house was built in the fourteenth century, and evidently people were smaller then because Mr Finnegan's hair brushes the top of the doors if he doesn't duck his head, and he isn't particularly tall for an adult. We're sleeping in the hayloft because Seamus' room is too small for the three of us and his mum says she doesn't want to put up with our noise. Seamus says there's such a thing as expansion charms and silencing charms but I don't know why she didn't want to do that. Maybe the house is too old and fragile, or they take too much magic to cast, or might affect the electrical wiring, but Dean said he thought Mrs Finnegan doesn't want to trust us to spend too much time with Meaghan, or perhaps she doesn't want to seem too controlling. Seamus' mum didn't go to Hogwarts and he said she was really excited that Seamus got an invitation to attend. Meaghan is Seamus' little sister, she doesn't try to follow Seamus around and spends most of her time with her schoolfriends, Seamus says she's a witch but I haven't seen her do any magic. She's ten but she won't be eleven until October so she doesn't go to Hogwarts next year if she gets a letter which Seamus said they don't know if she will or not, he thinks she will. I think that Mrs Finnegan would rather she stays home and goes to the Irish school for magic, even though it only goes up to OWLs. The Irish school is only about twenty minutes walk from here so it seems really odd that Seamus came to Hogwarts instead of going there.**_

_**Seamus mum is very strict about things like being on time for meals and completing your chores on time. On the other hand his Dad is very laid back and if Seamus had plans to meet friends and asked him to he will help with the chores his mum wouldn't let him out of. Like I said we're out in the hayloft and unless there are wards I don't know about, nobody tells us when to stop mucking about and go to bed or even checks that we're in the loft and not out roaming around the farm or sneaking into town. Still Seamus warned us that his Dad will get us up really early to help with the milking so by the end of the day we will want to go to bed at a sensible hour and his mum won't need to worry about nagging us.**_

_**It's peaceful at Seamus's in spite of being busy with chores, and I'm almost regretting that I don't get to spend the next month with them instead of at school. I've learned how to feed the chickens collect the eggs and milk a cow. I've also learned the incantations and wand movement for the spells to milk the cows but we can't use magic over the summer away from school. The milking spell isn't very efficient anyway but Seamus' Uncle Johnny, his mum's brother who is a wizard and has his own farm nearby, said that wizards mostly use the milking spell on wild beasts where it isn't safe to milk them manually and he still milks the cows the muggle way because you get more milk and it's better for the cows. There's also a spell to force hens to lay eggs but Seamus said his dad and his uncle would both take a strap to him for animal cruelty if he tried it on them. Seamus' mum has also shown us a lot of housekeeping spells for cleaning and laundry and cooking. Witches seem to like using magic for everything even when it isn't the most efficient or effective but mostly I can see it could be a great help. She spells the potatoes to peel themselves while she prepares the meat and other veg and then the dishes to do themselves while she packs away the leftovers and cleans the table. Other spells are like that too she casts the spell to do the bulk of the work but still has to do the small things to finish it up properly by hand. She's explained the spells to us and showed us the book she learned them in. I was interested but Dean and Seamus weren't much, they like magic to be cool and showy and loud. Or against the rules in some way. Seamus spent most of last year trying to turn water into rum. I haven't the heart to tell him I think that I can actually do it. Or at least I can turn water into the whisky that Vernon likes to drink, except that they don't get as mean when they're drinking the whisky I made. Vernon and Marge never noticed the difference in any case.**_

_**I can't ask Dean or Seamus to let me stay the rest of the summer. They've been amazingly generous to let me stay as long as they have. Neither of them has had any just family time all summer. Mrs Thomas would possibly have agreed but I think that Dean is actually going to stay here for an extra week or two after I leave. Ron talked about inviting me for the last two weeks though I haven't heard from him yet that doesn't mean he's changed his mind. I didn't expect to hear from him much over the summer, he's too lazy to be a good letter writer unless his mother is sitting him down and forcing him to write. That leaves a week or two. I'll stock up on food and I'll be fine. I would ask Neville if I could stay there, but the impression I get is that his Grandmother is very strict and incredibly hung up on proper manners and I'm worried that she would think asking for an invitation to stay would be unpardonably rude. I don't want to get on her bad side or to make things harder for Neville, though I would like to spend some time with him too. It seems wrong to stay with or plan to stay with all three of our other dorm mates and not him.**_

_**The Dursleys won't hurt me if they know I'm going to be collected within a fortnight by a witch or wizard who likes me enough to care if I'm covered in bruises. And the wards don't have a permanent effect. They can't do too much damage in two weeks when I lived with them for more than six months after they were strengthened last time.**_

_**As for Dumbledore we've known for a while that he doesn't have my best interests in mind and while we don't know his motives, it really doesn't matter too much why not. He is an enemy whether he had anything to do with the new wards at the Dursleys or not. I won't forget that. Nor will I forget that when we needed them, we couldn't count on any of the professors for help because they'd been spelled to ignore us, and there was no absolute proof that it was Voldemort and Quirrell who had messed with their minds to prevent them stopping him getting the stone or Dumbledore wanting us to fight him on our own for some reason. Even with Vernon's violent episodes, I'm not in any more danger in Privet Drive than I am at Hogwarts. (I know you'll tell me that I shouldn't go back to Hogwarts either and I'm working on that, but I can't just leave everything, nobody is going to rent a room to an almost twelve year old kid on their own).**_

_**I'm sorry, but I'm not going to have as much time to email you as I had at Dean's and my ability to contact you is going to be a bit erratic over the next month. Mr and Mrs Finnegan have arranged for me to go to summer school in Ireland with Dean and Seamus. I want to keep in touch but it just depends how much homework I have to do each night to complete a whole semester in a month. They told us today after dinner, Mr Finnegan is going to take us shopping for supplies tomorrow so it might be late before I can contact you, and classes start on Monday. They have a one month super intensive program, and we're going to completed a whole semester of English, Humanities, mathematics and science, so I'll still be half a year behind and as intensive as the course is, it is probably not going to be enough subjects to count but it should help if I ever decide to leave Hogwarts and go back to normal schooling. I'm looking forward to the classes but hopefully intensive isn't just a code for masses of homework every night otherwise I'll never have time to talk if Seamus' mum insists I finish it before logging onto the computer.**_

_**Seamus is totally disgusted with his Dad for deciding to make him get a nonmagical education **_

_**and hopping mad that his Mum agreed with him, and Dean tried to argue but his mother thinks it is a good idea too. I just hope we can all keep up with the workload as well as second year Hogwarts' classes. I should be able to, I had a lot of free time to research spells and things last year, the only problem was making sure nobody noticed. I'm not sure if I want to try to keep this a secret too but it's probably out of my hands, I doubt Dean and Seamus will care who knows about it or understand why I want to keep it secret, and people will see me receive and send papers at the same time as Dean and Seamus, even if I don't sit and work with them. I think that I will want to work with them though, studies are more interesting when they're shared with someone.**_

To: Harry Potter

From: Spencer Reid

_Saturday 7/_11/92 10:38pm (PST)

_You don't need me to tell you that I'm thrilled that you're going to summer school to keep up your nonmagical education. But the really great thing about going to school this summer is that if they take boarders then now you know about it you could arrange to spend that month there every summer if you don't get into an international school of magic. It would be four weeks that you didn't have to ask anyone to take you in and you will benefit from the classes as well and it would make it possible for you to get a decent job in the muggle world or even to go to university if you wanted to leave the magical world when you finish magical school. It should be easier to get someone to invite you for the remaining weeks of the summer, unless the school actually runs the whole summer and you've only been enrolled for this month? That would be good. I know that spending the entire summer at school might not be everyone's idea of fun but I know you love learning and it would at least be safe, and not have the embarrassment of being in an orphanage or foster care or having to trust that your new guardians will treat you better than the Dursleys and let you return to a boarding school they've never even heard of._

_Is it a good school? With motivated teachers that will let you work ahead at your own pace? Is there a decent library for you to follow your own interests?_

_How angry are Seamus and Dean about being in summer school, have they forgiven their parents for sending them yet? Have they realised that you were happy about catching up on your nonmagical education? I hope they don't resent you for being happy about being at summer school. I used to wish that I had classes to go to over the summer, though I was always happy to get away from my classmates for the summer. No matter how motivated I was to learn everything I could, self study can only go so far, though I am much happier with university level classes than high school classes._

_I'm not going to nag you about finding an alternate plan for the rest of the summer today but please keep trying. Maybe you should try asking the owner of the restaurant if you can sleep in his store room for a couple of weeks if you feel that you really need to be in Little Whinging. Or I'm sure that Hermione would be happy for you to visit her. If not then perhaps there's a hotel in Diagon Alley where you could rent a room, though you'd have to stay out of sight to be safe._

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

I wish everyone the best in this time. Please stay safe and keep your distance, stay at home if you can and take care of your mental and emotional health as well.


	92. Chapter 92

**Chapter 92 **

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

To: Spencer Reid

From: Harry Potter

Monday 13/7/92 7:04pm (GMT)

_**We started school today and I wish that I could tell you that it went well but I'd be lying. First we found out that we're not exactly boarding through the week like we thought when Mrs Finnegan insisted that we all take our trunks with us this morning, but the whole school operates in a time dilation bubble of some sort in the summer and we will spend 'nights' at school during the normal day and go home every normal evening and night. That's what intensive turned out to mean, a week per day. The classes we had today seemed okay, the teachers all seem to know more about teaching than a lot of the professors at Hogwarts. There are no ghosts or racist bullies teaching classes. They all seemed keen to be here teaching too but I thought that the biggest benefit to being a teacher would be the summer off not coming and spending all this time trying to cram the same work load into us in half the time as it took the regular students. A surprising number of the students seemed happy enough to be there too, the problem was that they weren't happy to have us there, and Dean and Seamus definitely weren't happy to be there either and are a bit cross with me that I was happy about catching up on my nonmagical schooling. They aren't shunning me for it but things are a bit strained.**_

_**Dean's more frustrated than angry about going to summer school, I talked to him about the level of bigotry against muggleborns in the wizarding world. He was aware that some of the Slytherins looked down on him but he thought it was a school bully thing and didn't realise that it was so widespread in the rest of the world. I told him that many muggleborns are stuck in low paying jobs for the rest of their lives because they don't have the education to get a good job in the nonmagical world or the connections to get one in the wizarding world. He got it, he's seen his mum and stepdad struggle financially all his life and he understands that she's just trying to make sure he has more opportunities than she did and has the choice to return to the nonmagical world after he finishes Hogwarts if he wants to. Unfortunately though, that doesn't make him happy to be spending so much of his summer at school. Seamus however is pissed off, he plans to return home after Hogwarts and help out on the farm and in his uncle's pub and eventually take over the farm when his father retires. He doesn't think that he needs this extra education and as a halfblood he could get a decent job in the magical world if he changes his mind about what he wants to do. I tried to encourage him that learning nonmagical subjects would help him fit in better with his uncle's nonmagical patrons but he's still pissed about losing his summer vacation.**_

_**It doesn't help that the other students seem to be excluding us, so even the time outside of classes wasn't fun and that we're stuck here for five days at a time so there's a lot of time to fill outside of classes. Nobody has tried to bully us but even the people Seamus used to be friends with don't seem to want us here, the other boys at school are very standoffish, they all know each other and Seamus knows most of them too. He says that some of them used to be friends and he's been trying to reconnect but none of them seem to want to be friendly. The other students all look down on us a bit, quite few of them are only doing one subject that they failed during the year and a couple of extra electives to keep busy or there's a couple doing the whole second semester because they missed too much school helping out on their parent's farms in the spring and one poor girl who managed to injure her magic and wasn't allowed to cast any spells for most of last semester. As you can tell, the school teaches magical subjects too and there are students here who look down on us because we aren't doing any wand use subjects, though Seamus' friends, or former friends, knew he was going to Hogwarts they've put about the rumour that he is a squib. It doesn't help that Mrs Finnegan hasn't allowed us to bring our wands to school for the day, hopefully she will let us bring them tomorrow. Though I have to believe she knew of the time dilation and that we wouldn't be in class the whole time we're here. Mr Finnegan has enrolled us in potions theory and preparation as well as the nonmagical subjects though, after hearing our stories about Snape and we're learning a whole heap of things we should've been taught at the start of last year. Disappointingly, they're still not teaching much about the why you'd use certain ingredients over others or why you need to prepare them in specific ways to get the right effect. The whole school uses some sort of time compression magic to teach a whole semester in one month, so depending on how busy we are you might hear from me several times a day because several days have passed for me and not for you, but we probably won't be able to chat because I'll have classes and meals and stuff at odd times and time passes so much more quickly here so even if you reply straight away I might not still be on the computer. **_

_**There are a few other students doing only the non-wanded subjects too but there's nobody else from Hogwarts, Seamus said he knows some of the other students doing nonmagical subjects come from wizarding families but we don't want to ask them if they're wizards or witches in case they are squibs. We wouldn't want to draw attention to that after the discrimination we've had to deal with. They are a couple of girls even more standoffish than the boys but it seems more like they're being defensive protecting themselves from other people's opinions by sticking to themselves, than as if they think they're better than us. The great thing about school is that we can practice magic there at lunch time, everyone there has to know about magic because of the time compression. Well it would be great if we had our wands with us, I know I don't actually need it but I don't want anyone to know that because nobody else seems to do it. Hopefully we will be treated a little better once we were seen practicing magic.**_

_**The school teaches several different languages, unfortunately Spanish isn't one of them but I am taking French, Italian and Latin. My teachers think that I'm crazy trying to learn all three and I admit I'm getting mixed up between Latin and Italian a lot of the time but since neither is totally new, I expect I will get it sorted out. They have the magical equivalent of language tapes in the library and I'm the only one taking Italian so I can borrow those ones as often as I like and set them to play on repeat while I'm walking around or doing chores and stuff, that's really helping. I can do it with the Latin and French tapes too but I only get the French sound crystal on Thursdays, the Latin one on Mondays.**_

_**It's a little strange learning nonmagical subjects again after a year away from them and Dean and Seamus are struggling a bit with them. Thanks to your help with my essays during the year I got top marks in my first English class and science and math are both dead easy too after all the things I read in Little Whinging Library. Seamus's Mum is planning to enrol us in the next English class and possibly History and Geography by correspondence this year and invited Dean and I back next summer to complete the second class for maths and science so they don't have to spend a whole month studying, and the best part of it was it was Seamus' Dad's idea so my friends didn't blame me for making them study. It is a boarding school of sorts, we have to stay here during the time compression and can go home every normal night which is every fifth night to us, but there are plenty of students that do stay here for the normal nights and Sundays without classes as well so I could do that next summer if I'm still in Britain.**_

_**I didn't try to email you during the nights in time compression because I was trying to spend time with Dean and Seamus who were feeling as out of place there as I was and I didn't want them to think I was abandoning them too. I also didn't think that you'd be checking your email as most of my day is your night or early morning, but I missed writing to you so I'm going to start emailing some nights. Don't feel that you have to hang about the library to be on line every time I email I'm doing it for me as much for you and it's okay if you only reply once every realtime day or two.**_

_**Your friend always**_

_**Harry**_

To: Harry Potter

From: Spencer Reid

_Monday 7/_13/92 11:20pm (PST)

_I'm glad you explained about the time compression before you started to message me every one of your days, otherwise I might have thought I'd fallen asleep in the library and missed a day or two or something. It's hard to believe that so much can have happened since we messaged each other last time, which was apparently yesterday for me but five days ago for you. It blows my mind that time can be changed like that, it goes against all the laws of time that I know of. Does that mean you'll actually be older by the end of the month? I find the whole concept of time compression fascinating and wish that I could experience it. Not that I want to rush through my time at Caltech, I do love it here and I will still be too young to be taken seriously in a post doctorate position when I finish my PhD as it is. I'm not complaining about that actually, it gives me a good reason to stay on at Caltech and study something else, get more degrees but I don't think I'd want to do ten._

_I'm not going to be able to write back to you every time, your first evening in time compression is before the library shuts for the night but the others will be overnight or first thing in the morning before I can get here most days. I wish that I had the internet at home so I could reply but it would freak Mom out too much to try it._

_How is it going sorting out three different languages? I found that listening to a language while I sleep is also a helpful way to input it into your subconscious, if it isn't going to keep you awake to listen to it. It doesn't keep me awake, I find that having something like that to listen to can help slow my mind down to allow me to sleep which I know wasn't a problem you used to have but I'm sure after all that happened at Hogwarts this year and knowing that you are in hiding would give you a lot of negative thoughts to dwell on so the tapes might help with keeping your mind off that._

_I'm sorry that Seamus' friends are avoiding them. He's going to need yours and Dean's support with that. Hopefully you're right and bringing wands to school and performing visible magic in front of them will help. Be as angry with the boys as you want to be but try to be gentle with the girls, if you're right that they don't have magic, they might be afraid you'll look down on them like the boys are doing to you, and no doubt doing to them as well. Has he forgiven you for enjoying learning yet, surely he knew that about you before this?_

To: Spencer Reid

From: Harry Potter

Monday 13/7/92 6:27pm (GMT)

_**You wanted to know if I would be older because of the time compression and I admit I'm curious about it too, but I don't really know the answer to that. Legally no, I will still turn twelve on the 31**__**st**__** of July, and not a minute earlier because magical people have made sure that mucking about with time or taking potions to make your body older doesn't do that, witches and wizards come of age exactly seventeen years after the day they were born, no matter if they've been in enough time compression or used a time turner to repeat enough time to have lived a hundred years or taken an aging potion or deaged themselves with a spell or potion to avoid growing up or tried any other legal or illegal way of messing with time that I haven't heard about yet. Physically I'm not sure if I age at the same rate as the rest of the world but I'm just moving and thinking faster because of the magic, or if I age at the rate of time in compression. I wonder if there's a spell that tells someone exactly how old they are? I do know however that I feel the need to eat and sleep on the compressed time schedule so in the twelve hours I'm actually at school I eat 13 meals and spend four nights sleeping, if anything I sleep more on those nights than I normally would. Even if I end up two or three months older than I would've been, I don't suppose it will make much difference since I'm currently one of the youngest in my class and the smallest boy so even three or four summers of this won't make me the eldest in the class, and wizards age more slowly once they're adults than nonmagical people do anyway. I wouldn't mind catching up on size with the rest of the class or being a little closer to your age. I do know that we can't leave the building wards and nobody or nothing physical can enter while the time compression is on so it is a bit dangerous if something goes badly wrong which is why they don't teach practical potions in time compression, we only learn some of the theory and ingredient preparation and brewing techniques, it's too big a risk of explosions or dangerous fumes to brew properly when we cannot evacuate or vent the fumes to the outside. We are still not learning the reasons why certain ingredients are used other than the main one or two ingredients, or why some ingredients need to be sliced in one potion and dried and ground into a powder or crushed into a pulp in another, or why some ingredients can be prepared ahead of time and bottled and others have to be used within days of harvesting, or can be kept unprepared but need to be used straight away once they're crushed, which I think would be the most interesting part of brewing. It's also harder to remember which preparation technique to use when without knowing the reason behind it. Still it should help with potions next year to have these extra skills even if we do still have to take it with Snape. I'm just glad that email gets through the time compression wards. It's really weird to think about, we come to school each morning at 7 am and stay four nights then go home and it's six pm the same day we arrived. So, from the Finnegan's point of view Seamus spends twelve hours at school six days per week and is home every night and from our point of view we're at the Finnegan's every fifth night, and we have thirty days of schooling and every week for four weeks and exams on the last day. It's pretty intense because we have 30 days' worth of classes then one day off. You can come and stay at school that day too and take advantage of the time compression to spend five days catching up on homework or just hanging about and doing your own thing or you can spend it at home and only have the single day. Dean and I have decided that we'll spend a couple of days off at school to give Seamus some time alone with his family and Seamus is talking about wanting to stay one weekend too, but he's going to wait and see whether Dean and I like it before he makes up his mind. One upside to all these days of classes is that there's a lot less homework on the nights we go home than the nights in time compression and nothing extra we have to do on our day off unless we've fallen behind, detentions are never scheduled for that day either. The best and worst thing about going to school under this time compression is that we've been enrolled in the program that covers a whole year of school in the month we're here, Seamus' mum got it wrong or maybe she just didn't want to tell Seamus he was going to have to do a whole year's worth of school over the summer, They'll reassess how we're managing and move us into the single semester program if we're not managing the workload but I'm determined to stay in the year long program no matter what Dean and Seamus do, so I'll be completely up to date with the basics if I can find a way to return to non-magical schooling without having a guardian. Dean also wants to stay in the year long program, the fees are the same for each but I think that Seamus would prefer to be doing the single semester except for the fact that Dean and I wouldn't be in any of his classes if he did and he still isn't really getting along with any of his former friends. I'll have to look into how to pay Mr and Mrs Finnegan back the school fees, I wouldn't want them to be out of pocket that amount and it's probably quite a lot seeing it's actually the equivalent of four months of boarding school.**_

_**I asked Dean about whether he was angry with his parents about tricking him and sending him to summer school instead of for a holiday in Ireland. He said his mum had told him about coming to summer school and she told him all the reasons she thought it was important that he get a nonmagical education as well as a magical education. He said he was pretty rude to her about it the night before we left their house but he's written to her and his stepfather to apologise. I don't think he has realised that it was things I said that made his parents think that he needs a nonmagical education but maybe he'll forgive me when he does because I didn't lie to them and I didn't know they'd do this. It's true he might want to leave the magical world to escape the prejudice or even just to get a decent paying job one day, even if it is my fault his parents know about it.**_

To: Harry Potter

From: Spencer Reid

_Monday 7/_13/92 10:36pm (PST)

_Time compression is one thing, and aging or de-aging potions don't sound too unreasonable either when magic is involved though I don't think that permanently changing your age would be as satisfying as the person taking it thinks it would be. I'm sure there are almost as many disadvantages to looking younger than your peers as there are being younger than them. Or Alternately it might be easier to look more like an adult but if you did everyone would expect you to behave like an adult all the time which wouldn't be much fun and make it hard to make friends. But are you seriously telling me that actual time travel is possible? How can that occur without destroying the time line? The time traveller would go back and change things that have already happened, changing reality or as some theorise creating an alternate reality and the original reality continues on as well as the new reality. There is also the theory that creating this alternate reality would tear time and space apart destroying both universes. It is the stuff of multiple fantasy novels, I'm sure one of the books I recommended to you before you started Hogwarts was H G Wells' "The Time Machine", it's fun to imagine what you could change but it is so inherently dangerous I can't imagine anyone wanting to risk trying it. It cannot be legal. I guess it makes sense with all these options that wizards have made sure that a child can't become a legal adult, though it does take away one avenue of escaping Dumbledore and whoever is trying to keep you trapped in the Dursley's house._

_I can understand Mrs Finnegan not wanting to tell Seamus that he has to spend a whole year at another school in the middle of the two months that he's home from Hogwarts, but it isn't like the truth could be hidden from him. Even with the time compression giving him several days between finding out and going home I can't imagine that Seamus was okay with his mom lying to him about the amount of school work he would have to do. It surprised me more that Mr and Mrs Thomas didn't tell Dean about enrolling him in summer school before he left for Ireland, from everything you've said about her Mrs Thomas doesn't seem the type to lie to her son, though I suppose it's possible and Dean either was asked not to tell you or didn't want to be the one to break the bad news._

_I'm glad that you're enjoying learning more about potions, it will help you not be too behind the other students in your new school, though if you end up repeating first year in Mexico I guess it won't make much difference but it should make learning the instructions in Spanish easier if you understand them better in English, and it will help Seamus and Dean back at Hogwarts too._

_As for the school fees I think that you should offer to pay them but if Mr and Mrs Finnegan decline the offer let it drop and thank them sincerely. You don't want to offend them by refusing their generosity, and if I were you I'd try to talk to them away from Dean because if his mother hasn't paid the fees already it's because they cannot afford the money and you wouldn't want him to feel bad about that._

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

I wish everyone the best in this time. Please stay safe and keep your distance, stay at home if you can and take care of your mental and emotional health as well. Reach out to your friends and family in safe ways and don't hesitate to seek help if you need to.


	93. Chapter 93

**Chapter 93**

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Criminal Minds or any of their characters. I do however own this story, I wrote it and I do **NOT**give permission for anyone to post it anywhere else. If you want to share it post a link.

To: Spencer Reid

From: Harry Potter

Tuesday 15/7/92 7:02pm (GMT)

_**Thankfully I was right that most of the other students, including Seamus' former friends have been more friendly since they saw him doing magic, almost apologetic. So far Seamus has been ignoring them. He is still angry with them for the way they treated him for the last ten days. It took two days for Mrs Finnegan to let us bring our wands which of course was fifteen days after starting school. In the end Dean told her what they were saying about Seamus lying about going to Hogwarts to hide the fact that he was a squib. She got really angry and told us to use as much magic as we liked as long as we didn't get caught. Seamus has been using every spell he knows he can do reliably as much as he can. I think that so much magical use will possibly strengthen his magic because we never use that much magic at Hogwarts. Dean is more practical and is happy to do things the nonmagical way as long as it's easier or more effective than using a spell, which a lot of things are for him. Some of that will change as he learns more magic but I'm finding that there are a lot more things like that milking spell, which are easier if you've got enough magic for them but not as effective as doing it the nonmagical way and no doubt by the time we're adults, most of the spells will use less energy than physically doing things but at the moment Seamus and Dean get a lot more tired using magic than just doing things the normal way.**_

_**Seamus is still really upset with the other boys, particularly the ones he used to be friends with in primary school. I can't blame him for not forgiving them for turning on him like that over something I think of as so trivial as not having magic. But evidently it is a much bigger deal to other people than it seems to me. I remember Ron saying that he thinks he has a cousin who's a squib or one of his parents do but he said they never see or talk to him.**_

_**I'm trying to be polite with everybody at school. You're right that the two girls who are only doing non-wand subjects don't have magic, they were upset when they saw us using our wands and have avoided us even more since then. I'm trying to be nice and show them it doesn't matter to me but they've recognised me as the-boy-who-lived. So has everyone else now they're not thinking that I'm a squib. I think I would prefer that they were continuing to ignore me. Dean and Seamus find it amusing, we were all too overwhelmed with starting at Hogwarts to notice the starstruck behaviour of the other students most of the time at the start of the year but seeing it now I recognise that it did happen then too. It's irritating that they all want to be friends with me now because of what happened the night my parents died when they were so keen to exclude us a few days ago. Seamus is encouraging me to snub them all in retaliation for the way they treated us but with time compression it's going to be a very long month if we don't get past the fan worship and learn to get along.**_

_**We are studying the history of Ireland. It's not exactly magical history or non magical history but a combination of the two. There are two teachers and sometimes they teach us the same things. One from a wizarding point of view and the other teaches us the muggle myths that have been created from where the magical occurrences weren't hidden properly or in some cases weren't hidden at all but were misunderstood by nonmagical witnesses. And sometimes they teach nonmagical history and then tell us how the wizarding world misinterpreted what had happened and vice versa how magical events have been partly revealed to the nonmagical world, what the intended cover story was and how they have actually been interpreted. It is really interesting but I don't know how relevant it's going to be for my GCSEs if I ever take them. It's my favourite class, I don't like the books we're studying in English and while I still love reading about math and science we haven't done anything I don't already know a lot about from the reading I did in the Little Whinging library last summer or the year before.**_

_**There's one other class here that I think that Hogwarts is really missing. It's an ethics class and like History some of it is about nonmagical issues and some about magical stuff like harming others and light and dark magic. Even if Hogwarts only taught the magical side of things it would be an improvement. Sometimes I think that because a witch or wizard can heal injuries and repair damage so easily and can make people forget things had ever happened there's less opportunity for magical children to learn that actions have consequences, or that things like loyalty and trust need to be earned and returned. They also don't seem to understand that sometimes just because you can do something it doesn't mean that you should. Animal to non-living transfiguration is one of the things I want to ask someone here about. We learn it and everyone acts like it's just another spell but surely it cannot be good for a beetle to be turned into a button. There is no way of telling if the beetle was hurt by the transfiguration or if it would starve if it's not reversed for it to eat and the beetle certainly cannot consent to it. Even if a successful transfiguration wouldn't hurt it what about all the times a student only managed to partially transfigure the button, or gets it totally wrong? The older classes use larger animals, mice and rabbits and turtles people keep those animals for pets, aren't they also being traumatised at the idea of a bunny like their beloved pet being turned into a pillow or a hat? Not to mention Seamus' Dad has started to teach us how to shoot a rifle, we're learning with wooden targets but the first thing he taught us was that you should absolutely never point a gun at anyone or anything that you don't intend to shoot, even if you think that the gun is not loaded with bullets. But people point wands at each other all the time, sometimes casually without meaning anything and other times to threaten during an argument, and even as first years we learnt spells that could hurt if they were cast at a person. I mean the cutting charm we learned was intended to cut parchment to length but parchment is dried skin, right? So a spell that cuts parchment would probably cut skin and if you pointed it at someone's face, you might be able to cut their eye and blind them, even if the spell isn't very strong. Not to mention that there's people like me who can use spells in ways they weren't intended to be used because I don't use a wand I have to picture what I want a spell to do and if I picture it differently it comes out how I pictured it even when the textbook says that what I pictured is impossible. It's actually a real nuisance, it means I have to be careful to do all the required reading so I know what the limits of a spell should be, and it's also why if I'm at all unsure I need to see someone else cast it first. Most of the time that's the professor. Flitwick and McGonagall are good at making sure they demonstrate both the wand movements, incantation and the complete spell every time but Quirrell often didn't bother to cast the spell, that or he was stuttering to badly for it to work properly for him. Funny thing was even when he stuffed up the incantation completely, the spell often worked, when the book says it shouldn't have. But nobody else seems to have noticed that, not even Hermione who is so quick to correct us all if we get the wand movement or the incantation incorrect. I wondered if he was like me and can make magic do whatever he wants it to and whether he really needed to use a wand. Then I found out that he'd been possessed by Voldemort who is said to be one of the most powerful dark wizards in history so I guess he doesn't but he was doing a fairly poor job of seeming average if I can do it better than him. I don't know how the other professors didn't notice. They knew him before he was possessed too. Surely he couldn't have them all compelled to ignore the changes for the whole year?**_

To: Harry Potter

From: Spencer Reid

Tuesday 7/15/92 11:16am (PST)

_The more I hear about what evil wizards can do with magic the more glad I am that nobody in my family had it, though I kind of wish I did so I could protect you better. Still perhaps it's for the best because I don't think I have what it takes to outwit a powerful supervillain like Voldemort or Dumbledore. I didn't think I was that naïve but I never envisaged the things that have been done to you being possible. That someone could do so much damage to your life without you even being sure who they are or if you've ever actually met them. Or you probably have met them but they just didn't let you keep the memory of it. That's what scares me most of all that magic can make people forget things, or make them believe stuff they don't believe and act in ways they would hate if they recognised it. I wonder if those people under control are still inside them hating what they're doing and not being able to do anything about it or if their whole personalities have been changed so they don't even recognise that they wouldn't have acted like that before?_

_Are you doing too much magic to tire yourself out? I remember you telling me that you were trying to use a fake wand most of the time. Are you still doing that all the time? Has learning new spells with the fake wand got easier?_

_Is there a healer at your summer school? For that matter, does the school have a name? I hadn't realised until I wanted to write it that you hadn't told me what it was. If there's not a healer there do you think that Mrs Finnegan could arrange to take you to a healer, I suppose they probably don't work Sundays except for emergencies so it might be difficult, especially as missing a day of school means missing a whole week of classes._

_I know you think that moving to another country would help people see you as a normal person but that really depends whether Voldemort was seen as a threat outside of Great Britain. From what you've said about the other students in Hogwarts, Ireland still considers itself part of magical Britain so the fact that you're still famous there doesn't mean you will be here or elsewhere in the world._

_I wouldn't worry about the History syllabus if I were you. It's good that it's well taught and you're enjoying it. At the year level you're learning, history classes are designed not only to increase your knowledge of the world (something that could be easily caught up on) but more importantly to learn to see how bias (victors bias, cultural bias, authors opinions) can color the way information is presented and by giving you opposing points of view to teach you to make judgements and think for yourself. It sounds like your teachers are doing an amazing job of that, even if you're not learning the traditional history you'd learn in England. Perhaps if you're worried you could ask Mrs Thomas to enrol you in a history class by correspondence, but I don't think it's actually necessary. Or you could go into a bookstore when you get back to England and ask to buy some history text books for the classes you would have done and just read the information they cover without having to do the work. Just remember to read the text critically or to get several different texts about the same events._

A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed or favourited this story for your support.

I wish everyone the best in this time. Please stay safe and keep your distance, stay at home if you can and keep in contact with family and friends on line, take care of your mental and emotional well being and seek help if you need it. Keep remembering that this will eventually end and life will go back to somewhat normal, we will get through this.


End file.
